2. .  3  .  , 


It 

£  tip 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


Division  . 


Section 


B  F  15 

■T  4  7 


%u3ac’s 

©dental  IRelujlons  Series. 


VOL.  III. 


</  . 


\ 


\ 


Xu3ac’s  ©riental  IReligions  Series. 


VOL.  I  :  Indian  Mythology,  according  to  the 
Mahabharata.  By  V.  Fausboll.  9s. 

VOL.  II  :  The  History  of  Philosophy  in  Islam. 
By  T.  J.  de  Boer.  Translated  by  Edward  R. 
Jones,  B.D.  7s.  6(7. 


SEMITIC  MAGIC 


ITS  ORIGINS  AND  DEVELOPMENT. 


\ 


A 


/ 


SEMITIC  MAGIC 


ITS  ORIGINS  AND  DEVELOPMENT. 


BY 

R.  CAMPBELL  THOMPSON,  M.A.  (Cantab.). 


London : 
LUZAC  &  CO. 
1908. 


PRINTED  RY 


STEPHEN  AUSTIN  AND  SONS,  LTD. 


HERTFORD. 


TO  MY  UNCLE 


FREDERIC  THOMPSON, 

WHOSE  COUNSELS 

ON  THE  HILLSIDE,  BY  THE  LOCHSIDE,  AND  ON  THE 

BROAD  WATERS, 

HAVE  OFTTIMES  SERVED  ME. 


PREFACE. 


The  theories  put  forward  or  maintained  in  this  book 
are  based  on  a  study  of  that  intricate  demonology 
which  has  gradually  developed  throughout  the  lands 
of  Western  Asia.  The  earliest  written  records  of  this 
magic  are  found  in  the  cuneiform  incantation  tablets 
from  Assyria ;  and,  aided  by  the  various  stepping- 
stones  afforded  by  Rabbinic  tradition,  Syriac  monkish 
writings,  and  Arabic  tales,  we  can  trace  its  growth 
and  decadence  through  three  thousand  years  down  to 
its  survival  in  modern  Oriental  superstition.  Further¬ 
more,  the  parallels  afforded  by  Aryan  and  Hamitic 
nations  show  how  close  the  grooves  are  in  which  savage 
ideas  run,  and  that  the  principles  of  magic  are,  broadly 
speaking,  coincident  in  each  separate  nation,  and  yet, 
as  far  as  we  know,  of  independent  invention.  All  these 
superstitions  combine  to  throw  light  on  many  of  the 
peculiar  customs  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  help  to 
explain  the  hidden  reason  why  these  customs  existed. 
From  a  study  of  the  characteristics  of  the  evil  spirits, 
which  the  Semite  believed  to  exist  everywhere,  certain 
deductions  can  be  made  which  bear  intimately  on  our 
knowledge  of  the  origins  of  certain  tabus  and  the 
principle  of  atonement.  These  may  be  briefly  stated 
thus  : — 


Xll 


PREFACE. 


(1)  All  evil  spirits  could  inflict  bodily  hurt  on  man. 

(2)  The  relations  between  spirits  and  human  beings 
were  so  close  that  both  semi-divine  and  semi-demoniac 
offspring  could  be  born  of  intermarriage  between  them, 
either  of  human  mothers  or  fathers. 

(3)  From  this  belief  in  intermarriage  with  spirits 
arose  the  tabus  on  certain  sexual  functions.  These 
(according  to  the  present  theory)  indicate  the  advent, 
proximity,  or  presence  of  marriageable  demons  who 
would  tolerate  no  meddling  in  their  amours.  Hence 
the  tribesman,  fearing  their  jealousy,  segregated  the 
contaminated  person  from  the  rest  of  the  tribe  for  such 
time  as  he  deemed  expedient. 

(4)  It  frequently  happened  that,  in  spite  of  the  care 
taken  to  isolate  all  persons  or  things  tabu,  a  man  might 
break  an  ‘  unwitting  ’  tabu,  and  as  a  result  would 
fall  sick  from  the  attack  of  a  resentful  spirit.  The 
priest  was  then  called  in  to  exorcise  the  demon,  which 
he  was  able  to  do  by  a  transference  of  the  demoniac 
influence  from  the  body  of  his  patient  into  some  other 
object. 

(5)  This  is  the  base  of  the  atonement  principle.  The 
priest  first  of  all  inveigled  or  drove  out  the  demon 
from  the  sick  man  into  a  wax  figure  or  slaughtered  kid, 
and  he  was  then  able  to  destroy  it.  As  civilisation 
proceeded,  the  most  probable  theory  is  that  the  original 
idea  of  the  slaughtered  kid  became  merged  in  that  of 
the  ordinary  sacrifice  representing  a  common  meal  with 
the  god.  The  carcase  of  the  kid  then  played  the  part 


Xlll 


PREFACE. 


of  a  *  sin-offering  ’  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  now 
understood,  instead  of  being  a  receptacle  for  the  demon 
cozened  forth  from  the  patient. 

(6)  Having  proceeded  thus  far,  the  principle  of 
substitution  for  the  firstborn  demands  attention.  This 
apparently  takes  its  origin  in  primitive  cannibal  feasts, 
the  horror  of  which  was  softened  as  the  Semites 
advanced  in  progress.  With  their  migration  perhaps 
to  a  more  fertile  land  where  stress  of  poverty  and 
famine  did  not  demand  such  extremities  as  cannibalism, 
and  also  from  a  contemporaneous  rise  in  civilisation, 
it  became  natural  to  substitute  a  beast  for  a  tribesman 
at  the  tribal  sacrificial  feasts. 

The  study  of  tabu  from  the  Assyrian  side  has  been 
comparatively  neglected,  and  yet  the  evidence  hitherto 
gleaned  from  the  cuneiform  writings  shows  that  it 
existed  in  practically  the  same  forms  in  Mesopotamia 
as  in  other  countries.  I  had  hoped  to  find  more  proof 
of  its  presence  in  certain  cuneiform  tablets  dealing  with 
medical  and  kindred  subjects  in  the  British  Museum, 
but  my  two  applications  for  permission  to  copy  un¬ 
published  tablets  of  this  nature  were  refused  by  the 
Museum  authorities.  Hence  the  material  at  hand  for 
a  study  of  a  most  interesting  branch  of  Comparative 
Religion  is  more  imperfect  than  I  could  have  wished, 
and  the  relative  scientific  value  of  what  we  actually 
know  on  this  subject  is  proportionate  to  the:  amount 
of  evidence  which  may  be  afforded  at  some  later  date 
b}^  these  privy  documents. 


XIV 


PREFACE. 


It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say  how  much  I  am 
indebted  to  Robertson  Smith’s  Religion  of  the  Semites 
and  Frazer’s  Golden  Bough  for  the  many  quotations 
bearing  on  this  subject  which  I  have  taken  from  them; 
to  the  Encyclopaedia  Biblica  and  Jewish  Encyclopaedia  ; 
to  that  storehouse  of  Arabic  folklore,  Doughty’s  Arabia 
Deserta ;  to  Curtiss’  Primitive  Semitic  Religion ;  to 
Skeat’s  Malay  Magic ;  and  to  King’s  various  works 
on  Assyrian  religion. 

To  my  uncle,  Frederic  Thompson,  I  owe  hearty 
thanks,  not  only  for  the  care  and  trouble  which  he 
has  taken  in  reading  the  proof  -  sheets,  but  also  for 
many  appropriate  suggestions  of  which  I  have  gladly 
availed  myself. 

Such  a  book  as  this  must  necessarily  be  imperfect* 
and  not  everyone  will  agree  with  the  deductions  that 
have  been  made.  But,  as  Hume  says  in  his  discussion 
on  Miracles ,  “  a  wise  man,  therefore,  proportions  his 
belief  to  the  evidence  ...  he  weighs  the  opposite 
experiments :  he  considers  which  side  is  supported  by 
the  greater  number  of  experiments :  to  that  side  he 
inclines  with  doubt  and  hesitation ;  and  when  at  last 
he  fixes  his  judgment,  the  evidence  exceeds  not  what 
we  properly  call  probability .” 

R.  Campbell  Thompson. 

London. 

July,  1908. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGES. 

Introduction  ........  xvii-lxviii 

I.  The  Demons  and  Ghosts  ......  1-94 

II.  Demoniac  Possession  and  Tabu  .....  95-141 

III.  Sympathetic  Magic  .......  142-174 

IV.  The  Atonement  Sacrifice  ......  175-218 

V.  The  Redemption  of  the  Firstborn  ....  219-244 

Appendix . 245-256 

Index  . .  257-283 

List  of  Biblical  Quotations .  285-286 


A.J.S.L. 

A.S.K.T. 

C.I.S. 

C.T. 


Devils 

G.B. 

J.A. 

J.A.O.S. 

J.A.S. 

J.B.L. 

J.E.S. 

J. Q. 

K. 

Maklu 


O. T.J.C. 

P. E.F. 
P.S.B.A. 
S. 


Surpu 

T.S.B.A. 

W.A.I. 

Z.A. 

Z.D.M.G. 


LIST  OF  ABBREVIATIONS. 

American  Journal  of  Semitic  Languages. 

Haupt,  AJckadische  und  Sumerische  Keilschrifttexte. 

Corpus  Inscriptionum  Semiticarum. 

Cuneiform  Texts  from  Babylonian  Tablets  (British  Museum 
publications). 

Thompson,  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits  of  Babylonia. 

Frazer,  Golden  Bough. 

Journal  Asiatique. 

Journal  of  the  American  Oriental  Society. 

Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society. 

Journal  of  Biblical  Literature. 

Journal  of  the  Ethnological  Society. 

Jewish  Quarterly. 

References  to  Kouyunjik  Tablets  in  the  British  Museum. 

The  Maklu  Series,  published  by  Tallqvist,  Die  assyrische 
Beschworungsserie  Maqlu. 

Robertson  Smith,  Old  Testament  in  the  Jewish  Church. 

Palestine  Exploration  Fund. 

Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology. 

References  to  Tablets  in  the  British  Museum  found  by 
George  Smith. 

v 

The  Surpu  Series,  published  by  Zimmern,  Die  Beschworungs- 
tafeln  Surpu. 

Transactions  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology. 
Rawlinson,  Inscriptions  of  Western  Asia. 

Zeitschrift  fur  Assyriologie. 

Zeitschrift  der  Deutschen  Morgenlandischen  Gesellschaft. 


INTRODUCTION. 


“  Magic  and  sorcery,  though  they  lay  outside  of  religion 
and  were  forbidden  arts  in  all  the  civilised  states  of 
antiquity,  were  yet  never  regarded  as  mere  imposture.” 1 
The  difficulty  lies  in  distinguishing  magic  from  religion, 
and  we  can  best  quote  the  broad  definition  laid  down  by 
Robertson  Smith,  that  the  difference  between  religion  and 
magic  is  that,  while  the  former  is  the  worship  for  the  good 
of  the  community,  magic  is  the  supernatural  relation  for 
the  individual.2  When  it  is  remembered  how  great  an 
influence  the  principle  of  Atonement  has  in  the  Levitical 
laws,  and  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  that  a  Babylonian 
sorcerer  will  conjure  a  demon  forth  from  a  sick  man  with 
a  little  dough  figure,  just  as  though  he  were  a  vindictive 
wizard  of  the  Middle  Ages,  using  the  selfsame  word  as 
the  Hebrews  as  the  name  of  his  exorcism,  the  difficulty 
will  at  once  be  apparent.  We  have,  therefore,  to  examine 
much  more  than  the  mere  spell  of  an  Arab  shekh  for 

1  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  90. 

2  Martin  Del  Rio  ( Disquisitiones  Magicce ,  1599,  i,  12)  thus  defines 
magic  :  “Ut  sit  ars  seu  facultas,  vi  creata,  &  non  supernaturali,  queedam 
mira  &  insolita  efficiens,  quorum  ratio  sensum  &  communem  hominum 
captum  superat.”  On  the  beliefs  in  magic  current  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  curious  will  find  an  exhaustive  account  in  Horst’s  Zauher  Bibliothek , 
and  it  is  refreshing  to  read  even  in  a  book  published  as  late  as  1898 
( The  Book  of  Sacred  Magic  of  Abramelin  the  Sage ,  ed.  Mathers)  the 
remarks  which  are  written  by  the  editor  who  apparently  expects  to 
be  taken  seriously  ;  his  explanatory  Introduction  is  intended  purely 
and  solely  as  a  help  to  genuine  Occult  students,  and  ends  with  his 
defiance,  “that  for  the  opinion  of  the  ordinary  literary  critic  who 
neither  understands  nor  believes  in  Occultism,  I  care  nothing.  ’ 

b 


PRIESTS  AND  WIZARDS. 


•  •  • 

XVlll 

a  lovesick  Bedawi,  or  the  amulet  of  some  Syrian  wise- 
woman  against  the  Evil  Eye ;  the  principles  which  underlie 
such  wizardry  go  deep  into  the  roots  of  religion  itself,  and 
for  this  reason,  if  for  no  other,  magic  and  witchcraft  deserve 
to  be  considered  as  something  more  than  the  impotent 
trickery  of  charlatans.  As  religious  principles  developed 
themselves  among  primitive  savages,  men  began  to  learn 
something  of  the  mysterious  natural  forces  which  would 
enable  one  tribal  wizard  to  pit  himself  in  ghostly  combat 
against  the  warlock  of  another  clan,  and  defeat  him  by 

o 

his  superior  magic.  When  Elijah,  priest  of  Yahweh, 
challenges  the  priests  of  Baal  to  a  test  of  comparison 
between  his  god  and  theirs,  he  is  only  doing  what  medicine¬ 
men  of  different  savage  tribes  always7  do ;  1  and  in  this 
intertribal  warfare  of  witch-doctors  we  can  see  how  different 
classes  arose  among  those  who  wrought  in  spiritual  matters. 

First,  the  priest  who  was  the  head  of  the  profession,  and 

% 

after  him  a  successive  line  of  magic-workers  in  grades  of 
decreasing  power,  until  we  arrive  at  the  bottom  rung  of  the 
ladder,  the  witch  whose  business  it  is  to  cast  spells,  or 
make  love-philtres  or  diet-drinks  of  herbs  for  a  miserable 
price.  Then,  when  the  existence  of  this  lower  order  of 

1  1  Kings  xviii.  Similarly,  Pharaoh’s  magicians  cast  down  their 
wands,  which  become  serpents  and  are  finally  swallowed  by  Aaron’s 
serpent,  in  the  witch-doctor  combat  before  the  King  of  Egypt.  Maury, 
La  Magie  et  V  Astrologie,  40,  explains  this  (quoting  Lane’s  Manners  and 
Customs ,  ii,  103)  by  a  trick  the  magicians  have  of  throwing  a  viper 
into  a  kind  of  trance  through  compressing  its  head,  and  making  it 
appear  as  a  rod.  He  quotes  also  Th.  Pavie,  Suv  les  Harris,  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes ,  xlv,  461.  Al-Beidawi  (quoted  Sale,  Koran ,  Surah  vii) 
says  that  these  magicians  imposed  on  the  bystanders  with  pieces  of 
rope  and  wood  which  they  made  to  writhe  like  serpents.  Other 
instances  of  Old  Testament  magic  are  contained  in  Exod.  xv,  25,  where 
the  waters  of  Marah  are  made  sweet  by  casting  in  a  tree,  or  (xvii,  6) 
where  the  striking  of  the  rock  causes  water  to  flow. 


CONJURING  TRICKS. 


xix 


sorcerers  is  fully  established  and  accredited,  to  whom  the 
credulous  or  malicious  poor  will  resort  for  aid  in  subterfuge, 
it  behoves  the  priestly  caste  to  set  about  defeating  the 
machinations  of  such  foes  to  law  and  order.  For  these 
lesser  magicians,  being  able  to  invoke  the  powers  of 
darkness,  cause  much  of  the  tribute  debit  to  the  priests 
to  find  its  way  by  illegal  channels  into  their  own  pockets, 
and  it  is  such  upstart  rivals  who  impoverish  the  temple. 
From  this  arise  so  many  of  the  decrees  against  sorcerers 
who  have  dared  to  set  themselves  in  opposition  to  the 
established  caste. 

The  men  of  old  never  mistrusted  the  power  of  the 
sorcerer  merely  because  he  was  of  low  degree ;  to  them 
he  was  quite  as  capable  of  laying  a  spell  as  the  priest 
was  of  removing  it.  Hence  we  find  that,  although  mere 
conjuring  is  to-day  reckoned  the  lowest  depths  to  which 
magic  can  descend,  one  of  the  most  blatant  tricks  possible 
is  described  in  the  Assyrian  legend  of  the  Creation  itself. 
The  gods  assemble  themselves  to  praise  Marduk  in  chorus : 
“  Then  they  set  in  their  midst  a  garment,  and  unto 
Marduk  their  first-born  they  spake :  ‘  May  thy  fate,  0  lord, 
be  supreme  among  the  gods  to  destroy  or  create ;  speak 
thou  the  word,  and  (thy  command)  shall  be  fulfilled. 
Command  now  and  let  the  garment  vanish,  and  speak 
the  word  again  and  let  the  garment  reappear !  ’  Then 
he  spake  with  his  mouth,  and  the  garment  vanished ; 
again  he  commanded  it,  and  the  garment  reappeared.”  1 
In  no  wise  more  advanced  is  the  story  of  the  rod  becoming 
a  serpent  in  Exodus  iv,  and  Mohammedan  tradition  relates 
that  Abraham  himself  was  able  to  work  similar  magic  ; 

1  Creation  Series,  Tablet  IV,  ed.  King,  Seven  Tablets  of  Creation ,  61. 


XX 


CONJURING  TRICKS. 


that  when  he  cut  the  birds  in  pieces  in  his  sacrifice — an 
eagle  (or  dove,  as  others  say),  a  peacock,  a  raven,  and 
a  cock — he  retained  only  their  heads  whole,  and  mixed 
the  flesh  and  feathers,  laying  them  in  four  parts  on  four 
mountains.  Then,  when  he  called  to  each  by  name,  they 
rejoined  themselves  in  their  first  shapes  to  their  heads.1 
Still  more  puerile  are  the  trivial  performances  of  conjurers 
related  in  later  Jewish  literature;  It.  Ashi  sa}^s  that  he 
saw  a  man  scatter  strips  of  silk  from  his  nose,2  and 
R.  Hyya  is  told  the  story  of  a  rider  of  a  camel  who  cut 
off  the  head  of  the  camel  with  his  sword,  and  thereafter 
rang  a  bell,  and  the  camel  stood  up.  R.  Hyya  answers, 

“  Did  you  see,  after  it  stood  up,  that  the  place  was  dirty 
from  blood  and  dust?  There  was  nothing.  Hence  it  was 
only  a  dazzling  of  the  eyes.”  3 

1  Sale,  Koran ,  Surah  ii. 

2  Sanhedrin  (ed.  Rodkinson),  vii,  197. 

3  Ibid.,  198.  Even  in  the  creation  of  man  (in  the  Jehovist  account) 
man  is  first  fashioned  from  clay,  a  story  expanded  by  Arab  tradition, 
which  relates  that  the  Angel  of  Death  took  black,  red,  and  white  earth  ■ 
to  God  to  form  man,  and  for  this  reason  men  are  of  different  colours 

( Masludi ,  Prairies  d’Or ,  i,  52).  Gabriel,  Michael,  and  Israfil  were  sent 
by  God,  one  after  another,  to  fetch  seven  handfuls  of  earth  to  create 
Adam  (Koran,  ‘Surah  ii).  According  to  Berossus,  the  Babylonian 
tradition  maintained  that  man  was  made  of  the  blood  of  Bel  mixed 
with  earth,  and  the  fragment  of  cuneiform  tablet  identified  by  Mr.  King 
(Seven  Tablets  of  Creation,  lviii)  recounts  that  Marduk  announces  his 
intention  of  forming  man  from  blood  and  fashioning  bone.  In  the 
same  way  in  the  Gilgamish  Epic  (i,  col.  ii,  1.  33)  Arum  “  forms  a  man 
of  Anu  in  her  heart.”  She  washes  her  hands,  kneads  a  piece  of  clay, 
and  thus  creates  Ea-bani.  In  this  method  of  changing  one  material  to 
something  more  valuable  we  may  see  the  prototype  of  that  goal  of  every 
wizard  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Philosopher’s  Stone.  Even  in  a  Syriac 
story  (Brooks,  A  Syriac  Fragment,  Z.D.M.O.,  1900,  217)  we  find  it  told 
of  one  Isaac,  who  had  been  appointed  to  Karrhai,  and  there  entertained 
a  strange  monk.  This  monk,  on  leaving,  told  Isaac  to  bring  him 
a  piece  of  lead,  and  having  melted  it  he  took  an  elixir  from  a  little 
wallet  and  poured  it  thereon,  and  it  changed  its  colour  and  became  gold. 


CLASSES  OF  PRIESTS. 


xxi 


These  tricks,  hypnotic  or  otherwise,  represent  the  least 
effective  side  of  magic,  and  have  little  bearing  on  the 
more  serious  uses  to  which  it  was  put.  Sorcerers  in  olden 
days  were  far  more  concerned  with  the  utilitarian  side  of 
their  craft  than  in  working  sterile  wonders  merely  to 
please  a  crowd  of  sightseers  ;  theirs  was  the  graver  duty 
of  freeing  mankind  from  tabus  of  uncleanness,  of  casting 
out  demons  from  possessed  folk,  or  relieving  them  from 
some  spell  laid  upon  them  by  a  malignant  witch.  Theirs, 
also,  was  the  power  to  ward  off  all  hostile  ghosts,  to  lay 
troublesome  spirits  under  a  ban  that  they  might  not 
torment  such  mortals  as  lay  within  their  reach.  The 
priesthood  in  which  such  powers  were  vested  formed  a 
large  class,  particularly  in  the  systematized  methods  of 
Babylonia,  and  their  functions  were  manifold,  allotted 
severally  to  different  divisions  of  the  caste,  each  with  a 
descriptive  name. 

In  ancient  Mesopotamian  lore  we  may  class  the  ritual 
tablets  into  three  categories,  according  to  the  priest  who 
performed  the  ceremonies ;  one  for  the  Stfrw-priests,  or 
seers,  a  second  for  the  «$f^-priests,  who  approximate  to 
wizards,  and  a  third  for  the  zammaru- priests,  or  chanters. 
Zimmern  has  collected  much  material  about  them ;  the 
barii  is  met  with  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Hammurabi,1 
and,  according  to  Martin,  he  belonged  to  a  special  caste 
which  tradition  took  back  as  far  as  Enmeduranki,  King 

v 

of  Sippar,  the  town  sacred  to  Samas.  Enmeduranki 

v 

had  received  from  Samas  and  Adad  the  initiation  to 
mysterious  rites,  the  art  of  the  barii,  and  he  communicated 
it  to  the  diviners  of  Sippar  and  Babylon.  The  barii 

King,  Letters  of  Hammurabi ,  17,  14  ;  42,  14. 


i 


CLASSES  OF  PRIESTS. 


xxii 

consults  gods  on  the  future  by  the  inspection  of  the  liver 
and  entrails,  and  also  by  the  observation  of  the  flight  of 
birds  :  “  The  observation  of  oil  in  water,  the  secret  of 

Anu,  Bel,  and  Ea  ;  the  tablet  of  the  gods,  the  sachet  of 
leather  of  the  oracles  of  the  heavens  and  earth,  the  (wand) 
of  cedar  dear  to  the  great  gods.”1  As  among  the  Jewish 
priests,  the  barii  (and  asipu  too)  had  their  liturgical  vest¬ 
ments,  which  they  changed  frequently  during  the  ceremony.2 

It  is  through  these  barii  -  priests  that  Agukakrime 
(1500  b.c.)  makes  an  enquiry ;  in  the  Kutha  creation 
legend  the  king  asks  of  the  gods  through  these  same 
seers,  before  he  goes  out  against  the  enemy.  The  Cultus- 

tablet  of  Sippar  treats  of  the  installation  of  a  barii  to 

• 

the  Sun  Temple,  of  the  renewal  of  the  privileges  of  this 
seer  under  the  succeeding  king,  and  also  of  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  a  successor  (980-950  b.c.).  Assurnasirpal  (884- 
860  b.c.)  mentions  in  his  annals  how,  when  he  was 
besieging  a  hostile  Aramean  tribe,  he  captured  a  seer 
who  went  at  the  head  of  the  enemy,  and  Sennacherib 
seeks  through  the  5arw-seers  the  causes  of  his  father’s 
violent  death.  It  is  they,  also,  who  are  the  medium  for 
the  favourable  oracle  which  Esarhaddon  receives  concerning 
his  reconstruction  of  Babylon. 

The  functions  of  the  asipu  (which  is  probably  synonymous 
with  masmasu)  are  different.  He  is  the  incantation-priest 
and  exorcist  who  cleanses  tabus  of  uncleanness  and  removes 
bans,  and  he  is  the  magician  who  chants  the  rites  prescribed 

v 

in  such  magical  texts  as  the  Surpu,  Maklu ,  and  Utukku 
series.  In  his  hands  also  lies  the  power  of  performing 

1  Martin,  Textes  Religieux ,  1903,  xiv. 

2  Ibid.,  xvi. 


EXORCISM  OF  DEVILS. 


XXlll 


the  atonement  ceremony,  to  which  a  chapter  will  be 
devoted  later.1  1 

A  more  precise  view  of  his  functions  may  be  gathered 
from  the  following  quotations  from  the  Assyrian  exorcisms 
which  are  to  be  recited  over  sick  people  : — 

“  Incantation  : — 

(The  man)  of  Ea  am  I, 

(The  man)  of  Damkina  am  I, 

The  messenger  of  Marduk  am  I, 

My  spell  is  the  spell  of  Ea, 

My  incantation  is  the  incantation  of  Marduk, 

The  circle1 2  of  Ea  is  in  my  hand, 

The  tamarisk,  the  powerful  weapon  of  Anu, 

In  my  hand  I  hold, 

The  dat e-spathe,  mighty  in  decision, 

In  my  hand  I  hold.'’ 3 

“  Incantation  : — 

He  that  stilleth  all  to  rest,  that  pacifieth  all, 

By  whose  incantation  everything  is  at  peace, 

He  is  the  great  Lord  Ea, 

Stilling  all  to  rest,  and  pacifying  all, 

By  whose  incantation  everything  is  at  peace. 

When  I  draw  nigh  unto  the  sick  man 
All  shall  be  assuaged. 

I  am  the  magician  born  of  Eridu, 

Begotten  in  Eridu  and  Subari. 

When  I  draw  nigh  unto  the  sick  man 
May  Ea,  King  of  the  Deep,  safeguard  me  !  ” 4 

“  Incantation  :  — 

0  Ea,  King  of  the  Deep,  to  see  .  .  . 

I,  the  magician,  am  thy  slave. 

1  The  functions  of  the  bant  and  asipu  are  taken  from  Zimmern’s 
description  of  them,  Ritualtafeln,  82  ff.  See  also  Martin,  Textes 

Religieux ,  xiii,  on  the  asipu. 

2  Usurtu,  i.e.  the  magic  circle,  or  perhaps  ban. 

3  See  my  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits  of  Babylonia ,  i,  23. 

4  Ibid.,  i,  25. 


XXIV 


WIZARDS  AND  WITCHES. 


March  thou  on  my  right  hand, 

Assist  (me)  on  my  left ; 

Add  thy  pure  spell  to  mine, 

Add  thy  pure  voice  to  mine, 

Vouchsafe  (to  me)  pure  words, 

Make  fortunate  the  utterances  of  my  mouth, 

Ordain  that  my  decisions  be  happy, 

Let  me  be  blessed  where’er  I  tread, 

Let  the  man  whom  I  (now)  touch  be  blessed. 

Before  me  may  lucky  thoughts  be  spoken, 

After  me  may  a  lucky  finger  be  pointed. 

Oh  that  thou  wert  my  guardian  genius, 

And  my  guardian  spirit  ! 

O  God  that  blesseth,  Marduk, 

Let  me  be  blessed,  where’er  my  path  may  be  ! 

Thy  power  shall  god  and  man  proclaim  ; 

This  man  shall  do  thy  service, 

And  I  too,  the  magician,  thy  slave.”  1 

“  Unto  the  house  on  entering  .  .  . 

v 

Samas  (is)  before  me, 

Sin  (is)  behind  [me], 

Nergal  (is)  at  [my]  right  hand, 

Ninib  (is)  at  my  left  hand  ; 

When  1  draw  near  unto  the  sick  man, 

When  I  lay  my  hand  on  the  head  of  the  sick  man, 

May  a  kindly  Spirit,  a  kindly  Guardian,  stand  at  my  side.”  2 

It  is  with  the  ritual  of  the  asipu  and  masmctsu  that  the 
following  chapters  are  chiefly  concerned. 

Of  the  zammaru  less  is  known  than  of  these  other  two, 
hut  from  his  name  he  sang  or  chanted  the  ceremonials 
allotted  to  him. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  kassapu  and  kassaptu  (in  Hebrew 
kassaph)  are  the  wizard  and  witch  who  lay  bans  or  cast 
spells  on  people,  exponents  of  black  magic,  whose  devices 

1  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits  of  Babylonia,  i,  27. 

2  Ibid.,  i,  15. 


WIZARDS  AND  WITCHES. 


XXY 


the  more  legitimate  priest-magician  combated.1  The  second 
law  of  the  Hammurabi  code  is  framed  against  this  pro¬ 
miscuous  tampering  with  dangerous  arts — 

“If  a  man  has  charged  a  man  with  sorcery  and  has  not  justified 
himself,  he  who  is  charged  with  sorcery  shall  go  to  the  river,  he 
shall  plunge  into  the  river,  and  if  the  river  overcome  him,  he  who 
accused  him  shall  take  to  himself  his  house.  If  the  river  makes 
that  man  to  be  innocent,  and  he  be  saved,  he  who  accused  him  shall 
be  put  to  death.  He  who  plunged  into  the  river  shall  take  to 
himself  the  house  of  him  who  accused  him.”2 

The  Maklu  series  is  devoted  to  charms  and  spells  recited 
against  hostile  magicians  who  have  practised  their  arts 
against  the  suppliant,  who  appeals  for  divine  aid  in  the 
following  terms : — 

“  Incantation  : — 

The  witch  that  roameth  the  streets, 

Entering  houses,  prowling  through  towns, 

Going  through  the  broad  places,  walking  up  and  down, 

She  standeth  in  the  street  and  turneth  her  feet, 

Through  the  broad  place  she  hindereth  passage, 

Of  the  well-favoured  man  she  snatcheth  away  the  love, 

Of  the  well-favoured  maid  she  stealeth  away  the  fruit, 

By  her  glance  she  taketh  away  her  desire. 

She  looketh  on  a  man,  and  snatcheth  away  his  love, 

She  looketh  on  a  maid,  and  snatcheth  away  her  fruit. 

A  witch  hath  looked  on  me  and  pursued  me, 

With  her  venom  she  hath  hindered  my  passage, 

With  her  sorcery  she  hath  stopped  my  way, 

My  god  and  my  goddess  cry  over  my  body.”  3 

He  goes  on  to  say  that  he  has  made  an  image  of  the 
witch,  and  calls  on  the  Fire-god  to  burn  it — 

1  For  a  discussion  on  the  meanings  of  the  various  words  for  magicians 
in  Hebrew,  see  Encycl.  Bibl.,  1116  ;  Baudissin,  Studien ,  141.  On  the 
ideas  in  earlier  times  about  Biblical  sorcerers,  see  Martin  Del  Rio, 
Disquisiiiones ,  bk.  i,  14. 

2  Cf.  Num.  xxii,  5,  where  Balak,  the  king  of  Moab,  sends  to  Balaam 
asking  him  to  curse  Israel. 

3  Maklu,  Tablet  III,  1  ff. 


XXVI 


WIZARDS  AND  WITCHES. 


“  Incantation  : — 

Whoever  thou  art,  0  witch, 

In  whose  heart  is  the  word  of  m y  misfortune, 

On  whose  tongue  is  born  my  spell, 

On  whose  lip  is  born  my  sorcery, 

In  whose  footsteps  death  standeth, 

0  witch,  I  seize  thy  mouth,  I  seize  thy  tongue, 

I  seize  thine  eyes  as  they  glance, 

I  seize  thy  feet  as  they  walk, 

I  seize  thy  knees  as  they  bend, 

I  seize  thy  hands  as  they  twist, 

I  bind  thy  hand  behind  thee, 

May  Sin  destroy  thy  body  in  front, 

May  he  cast  thee  into  an  abyss  of  water  and  fire, 

0  witch,  like  the  circlet  of  this  seal, 

May  thy  face  grow  yellow  and  green.”  1 2 

“  The  wizard  or  witch 
Sits  in  the  shade  of  the  wall, 

Sits  making  spells  against  me, 

Fashioning  images  of  me  ; 

But  I  send  against  thee  the  haltappan- plant  and  sesame, 

To  undo  the  spell, 

And  force  back  thy  words  into  thy  mouth. 

May  the  magic  thou  hast  made 
Recoil  upon  thyself, 

May  the  images  thou  hast  fashioned 
Assume  thy  character, 

May  the  water  thou  hast  hidden  (?) 

Be  thine  own  ! 

May  thy  incantation  not  draw  nigh  me, 

May  thy  words  not  reach  me  ! 

By  the  command  of  Ea,  Samas,  Marduk,  and  Belit. 

1  Maklu ,  Tablet  III,  1.  89  ff. 

2  Ibid.,  Tablet  V,  1  if.  K.  10333  is  an  incantation  which  shows  how 
evil  may  be  repelled  from  the  threshold  of  a  house.  “  Repeat  this 
incantation  three  times  over  the  threshold  and  the  evil  foot  .  .  .  will 
not  approach  the  house  of  the  man.”  K.  9496  gives  the  line  “  "W  hen 
a  man  Jcispi  kak-kak  (=  usepis)-su  sorcery  bewitches  him,”  and  goes 
on  to  give  details  for  his  release. 


WIZARDS  AND  WITCHES. 


XXYll 


Or  in  Tablet  I : — 

“  Incantation  : — 

The  spell  of  my  sorceress  is  evil, 

Her  word  shall  turn  back  to  her  own  mouth,  her  tongue  shall 
be  cut  off. 

May  the  gods  of  night  smite  her  in  her  magic, 

May  the  three  watches  of  the  night  loose  her  evil  sorcery, 

May  her  mouth  be  fat,  may  her  tongue  be  salt, 

May  the  word  of  my  evil  which  she  hath  spoken  be  poured  out 
like  tallow, 

May  the  magic  which  she  hath  worked  be  crumbled  like  salt. 
Her  knot  is  loosed,  her  work  is  destroyed, 

All  her  spells  fill  the  desert, 

By  the  command  which  the  gods  of  night  have  spoken. 

Perform  the  incantation. 


Incantation  :  — 

Earth,  earth,  0  earth, 

f 

Gilgamish  is  the  lord  of  your  ban  ! 

All  that  ye  do  I  know, 

All  that  I  do  ye  know  not, 

All  that  my  sorceresses  have  done  is  broken,  loosed  without 
release. 

Perform  the  incantation. 


Incantation  : — 

My  city  is  Sappan,  my  city  is  Sappan, 

Of  my  city  Sappan  there  are  two  gates, 

One  to  the  east  and  one  to  the  west, 

One  towards  the  rising  of  the  sun,  the  other  towards  its  setting. 
I  bear  a  box,  a  pot,  (and)  mastakal- plant, 

To  give  water  to  the  gods  of  heaven. 

As  I  have  brought  ye  purification, 

So  do  ye  purify  me.” 

Perform  the  incantation. 


Incantation  : — 

I  am  despatched,  I  come  :  I  am  sent,  I  bring  the  message  : 
Marduk,  the  lord  of  magic,  hath  sent  me  against  the  might  of 
my  wizard  and  my  witch, 

.  .  .  I  have  called  ;  hear  the  [word]  of  the  earth  !  ” 


WIZARDS  AND  WITCHES. 


xxviii 


This  incident  of  making  a  city  is  paralleled  in  Indian 
charms  for  a  woman  at  childbirth.  In  order  to  avoid 
abortion,  the  sorcerer  makes  three  small  huts  which  lie 
west  and  east,  each  having  two  doors,  one  to  the  west  and 
the  other  to  the  east.  The  woman,  clad  in  a  black  robe, 
enters  the  westernmost  by  the  western  door.  Water  mixed 
with  sampata  is  cast  on  the  lead  (“les  plombs,”  see  op.  cit., 
55) ;  the  woman  walks  on  the  lead,  which  is  placed  on 
a  leaf  of  palaqa.1 

The  Assyrian  text  runs  on — 

“  Ho,  my  witch  or  sorceress  ! 

Thy  bounds  are  the  whole  world, 

Thou  canst  pass  over  all  mountains, 

Yet  I  know  and  have  steadfast  confidence  ; 

In  my  street  is  watch  kept, 

Near  my  door  have  I  posted  a  servant. 

On  the  right  and  left  of  my  door 
I  have  set  Lugalgirra  and  Allamu, 

The  gods  of  the  watch  that  tear  out  the  heart 
And  wrench  (?)  the  kidneys 

That  they  may  kill  my  witch  and  I  may  live.”  2 

“  I  cherish  thee,  0  myself, 

I  cherish  thee,  0  my  body, 

As  the  Plain-god  cherisheth  his  cattle, 

Or  the  ewe  her  lamb,  or  the  gazelle  her  young,  or  the  ass  her  foal, 
Or  as ’the  water-ditch  cherisheth  the  earth, 

And  the  earth  receiveth  her  seed — 

I  perform  an  incantation  for  myself 
That,  it  may  be  favourable  to  myself 
And  drive  out  the  evil, 

And  may  the  great  gods  remove  the  spell  from  my  body.”  3 

1  The  rites  continue,  and  the  curious  will  find  them  in  Victor  Henry, 
La  Magie  dans  VInde  Antique,  1904,  142. 

2  Maklu ,  vi,  118. 

3  Ibid.,  vii,  23.  A  charm  similar  to  this  is  found  in  the  medical  text 
C.  T.,  xxiii,  4,  1.  9,  and  10,  1.  26. 


WIZARDS  AND  WITCHES. 


XXIX 


It  is  quaint  to  see  the  witch  of  the  old  nursery  tales 
who  rides  on  a  broomstick  repeated  in  the  Arab  lore. 
“  Lo,  I  saw  four  women,  one  of  them  riding  upon  a  broom, 
and  one  of  them  riding  upon  a  fan.  I  therefore  knew, 
0  king,  that  they  were  enchantresses,  who  would  enter 
thy  city.” 1  The  silver  bullet  is  likewise  resistless,  and 
no  known  amulet  will  protect  the  wearer  against  this 
magic.  Doughty2  tells  of  Metaab  (Ibn  Rashid),  prince 
of  Shammar  after  his  brother  Tellal,  who  wore  a  hijab 
against  bullets,  but  it  did  not  prevail  against  a  silver  one 
with  which  his  nephews  killed  him. 

According  to  Mohammedans  the  wizard  is  an  infidel 
and  deserves  death,3  the  fate  threatened  to  sorceresses  in 
Exodus,4  while  Deuteronomy5  demands  the  expulsion  of 
the  sorcerer.  Doughty  has  two  stories  of  the  power  of 
Arabian  witches  ;  one  of  a  patient  who  was  ‘  fascinated,’ 
and  lamented  “  it  is  nefs,  a  spirit,  which  besets  me,”  adding 
that  this  sort  of  thing  was  common  in  their  parts,  the 
work  of  women  with  their  sly  philtres  and  maleficent 
drinks.6  His  description  of  the  Kheybar  witches  is  to 
the  point :  “  How  may  a  witch  that  has  an  husband  gad 

abroad  by  night,  and  the  goodman  not  know  it  ?  If 
she  take  betwixt  her  fingers  only  a  little  of  the  ashes 
of  the  hearth  and  sprinkle  it  on  his  forehead,  the  dead 
sleep  will  fall  upon  him  till  the  morning.”  7 

1  Story  in  Note  51  to  chapter  xxi,  Lane,  Arabian  Nights. 

2  Arabia  Deserta ,  i,  257. 

3  Klein,  Religion  of  Islam ,  181. 

4  xxii,  18. 

5  xviii,  10. 

6  Arabia  Deserta ,  ii,  384. 

7  Ibid.,  106  ;  see  Sprenger,  Malleus  Malefiearum  (1580),  84,  Cur 
magis  foemince  superstitiosce  reperiantur  ? 


XXX 


MAGIC  IN  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 


The  MoghreU  (‘  Western  ’)  is  always  recognized  as 
a  sorcerer  in  the  Arab  folk-tales,  and  even  Psellus  tells 
a  story  which  bears  witness  to  the  power  always  ascribed 
to  Moghrebi  wizards.  A  man  at  Elason  said  he  had  learnt 
something  of  the  black  art  “  through  a  certain  vagabond 
African,”  who  took  him  by  night  to  a  mountain,  gave  him 
a  certain  herb  to  eat,  spat  into  his  mouth,  and  anointed 
his  eyes  with  an  unguent.  He  was  thereby  enabled  to  see 
“  a  host  of  daemons,  from  among  which  he  perceived  a  sort 
of  raven  fly  towards  him,  and  down  his  throat  into  his 
stomach.”  1 

Several  references  are  to  be  found  in  the  New  Testament, 
notably  Simon  of  Samaria,2  and  the  magus,  Elymas,  who 
became  blind  at  the  instance  of  Paul.3  Others,  “strolling 
Jews,  exorcists,”  used  the  holy  name  of  Jesus  to  cast  out 
devils ; 4  and  “  not  a  few  of  them  that  practised  curious 
arts  brought  their  books  together,  and  burned  them  in 
the  sight  of  all.”  5  Divination,  too,  was  recognized. 
“  A  certain  maid  having  a  spirit  of  divination  .  .  .  which 
brought  her  masters  much  gain  by  soothsaying.”  6 * 

In  Sanhedrin1  Rabbi  Akiba  says  that  an  enchanter  is  one 
who  calculates  times  and  hours  and  says,  “  To-day  is  good 
to  start  on  a  journey,8  to-morrow  will  be  a  lucky  day  for 

1  Psellus  (eleventh  century),  Dialogue  on  the  Operation  of  Dcemons, 
ed.  Collisson,  38. 

2  Acts  viii,  9.  3  Acts  xiii,  6  ff. 

4  Acts  xix,  13.  5  Acts  xix,  19. 

6  Acts  xvi,  16. 

7  Fol.  65,  col.  2,  quoted  Hershon,  Talmudic  Miscellany. 

8  Doughty  speaks  of  the  custom  among  the  Arabs  of  foretelling 
lucky  days  :  “  Salih,  hearing  I  would  depart,  asked  me  privately  had 

I  found  by  divination  tamyis,  if  the  chance  were  good  for  this  day’s 
journey  ?  When  I  enquired  of  his  art,  ‘  What  !  ’  said  he,  ‘you  know 

not  this  ?  how,  but  by  drawing  certain  lines  in  the  sand  !  and  it  is 


HEBREW  WIZARDS. 


XXXI 


selling,  the  year  before  the  sabbatical  year  is  generally 
good  for  growing  wheat,  the  pulling  up  [instead  of 
cutting]  of  pease  will  preserve  them  from  being  spoiled.” 
According  to  the  Rabbis,  “  An  enchanter  is  he  who  augurs 
ill  when  his  bread  drops  from  his  mouth,  or  if  he  drops 
the  stick  that  supports  him  from  his  hand,  or  if  his  son 
calls  after  him,  or  a  crow  caws  in  his  hearing,  or  a  deer 
crosses  his  path,  or  he  sees  a  serpent  at  his  right  hand,  or 
a  fox  on  his  left.”  There  is  a  curious  story  in  Pesachim 
of  a  man  bewitched  by  a  former  wife.1  “  The  statement 
elsewhere  that  ten,  eight,  six,  and  four  are  excluded  from 
the  even  numbers  which  are  injurious  only  refers  to  acts 
caused  by  evil  spirits ;  but  where  witchcraft  is  concerned, 
even  those  and  more  numbers  may  prove  injurious,  as  it 
happened  that  a  man  once  divorced  his  wife,  and  she  then 
became  the  wife  of  a  wine-dealer.  The  first  husband  would 
generally  go  to  that  wine-dealer  for  his  wine,  and  they 
tried  to  bewitch  him,  but  without  success  ;  for  he  was 
always  careful  to  avoid  the  even  numbers.  One  day  he 


much  used  here  ’  ”  ( Arabia  Deserta,  i,  162).  It  is  also  to  be  found  in 
the  modern  magical  MSS.  In  the  Assyrian  letter-tablets  it  is  no 
uncommon  thing  to  find  the  astronomers  making  the  same  calculations. 
K.  565  (Harper,  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  Letters ,  vol.  i)  is  a  letter  to 
the  king  from  two  priests,  who  say,  “  It  is  well  for  the  journey  ;  the 
second  day  is  good,  the  fourth  day  always  (or  very)  good.51  In  K.  167 
( ibidem )  the  writer  excuses  himself  from  setting  out  on  a  journey 
because  the  day  is  unfavourable.  Rm.  73  (Harper,  vol.  iv)  tells  the 
king  that  the  20th,  22nd,  and  25th  of  the  month  are  lucky  for  entering 
into  contracts.  Omens  from  all  forms  of  portents  are  numerous  in 
Assyrian  (see  Boissier,  Textes  Relatifs  aux  Presages).  Even  in  the 
letter  K.  551  (Harper,  vol.  ii)  the  priest  relates  how  a  fox  fell  into  a  pit 
in  the  city  of  Assur,  but  was  got  out.  Among  the  modern  Egyptians 
Saturday  is  not  a  day  to  begin  a  journey  on,  shave,  or  cut  the  nails 
(Lane,  Manners  and  Customs,  331). 

1  Ed.  Rodkinson,  228. 


ARAB  WIZARDS. 


xxxii 

imbibed  too  freely,  and  after  drinking  bis  sixteenth  cup 
he  became  confused  and  did  not  know  how  many  he  had 
drunk.  So  they  saw  to  it  that  he  drank  an  even  number, 
and  then  succeeded  in  bewitching  him.  When  he  went 
into  the  street  he  was  met  by  a  certain  merchant,  who 
said,  ‘I  see  a  murdered  man  walking  before  me/  Not 
being  able  to  proceed  farther,  the  drunken  man  embraced 
a  tree  for  support,  when  the  tree  emitted  a  groan  and 
dried  up,  and  the  man  was  killed.”  But  even  witchcraft 
has  no  effect  against  a  heavenly  decree,  according  to 
ft.  Hanina.  There  was  a  woman  who  tried  to  take  earth 
(for  sorcery)  from  beneath  his  foot,  and  he  said,  “  If  you 
think  you  will  succeed  in  affecting  me  with  your  witchcraft, 
20  on  and  do  so,  as  I  am  not  afraid.  1 

O 

It  is  curious  to  see  that  there  is  an  Arab  tradition  that 
magic  will  not  work  while  he  that  works  it  is  asleep. 
Sadur  and  Ghadur,  who  were  two  of  the  Egyptian 
magicians  pitted  against  Moses,  the  sons  of  a  famous 
sorcerer,  were  sent  for  to  court,  and  their  mother  persuaded 
them  to  go  to  their  father  s  tomb  to  ask  his  advice.  The 
father  answered  their  call  and  told  them,  among  other 
things,  that  enchantments  have  no  effect  while  the  enchanter 

is  asleep.2 

Although  the  power  of  evil  spirits  was  much  feared, 
yet  wise  men  could  sometimes  overreach  Satan  himself  in 
cunning.  Such  tales  exist,  especially  among  the  model  n 
Arabs,  who  delight  to  relate  such  legends,  particularly  if 
they  redound  to  the  credit  of  local  patriotism.  Iblis  once 
sent  his  son  to  an  assembly  of  honourable  people  with 
a  flint  stone,  and  told  him  to  have  the  flint  stone  woven. 

1  Sanhedrin ,  ed.  Rodkinson,  vii,  197. 

3  Sale,  Koran ,  Surah  vii. 


ARAB  LEGENDS  OE  SATAN.  xxxiii 

He  came  in  and  said,  “My  father  sends  his  peace,  and 
wishes  to  have  this  flint  stone  woven.”  A  man  with 
a  goat-beard  said,  “  Tell  your  father  to  have  it  spun,  and 
then  we  will  weave  it.”  The  son  went  back,  and  the 
Devil  was  very  angry,  and  told  his  son  never  to  put  forth 
any  suggestion  when  a  goat-bearded  man  was  present,  “  for 
he  is  more  devilish  than  we.”  1  Curiously  enough,  Rabbi 
Joshua  ben  Hananiah  makes  a  similar  request  in  a  contest 
against  the  wise  men  of  Athens,  who  have  required  him 
to  sew  together  the  fragments  of  a  broken  millstone.  He 
asks  in  reply  for  a  few  threads  made  of  the  fibre  of  the 
stone.2  The  good  folk  of  Mosul,  too,  have  ever  prided 
themselves  on  a  ready  wit  against  the  Devil.  Time  was, 
as  my  servant  related  to  me,3  when  Iblis  came  to  Mosul 
and  found  a  man  planting  onions.  They  fell  to  talking, 
and  in  their  fellowship  agreed  to  divide  the  produce  of 
the  garden.  Then,  on  a  day  when  the  onions  were  ready, 
the  partners  went  to  their  vegetable  patch  and  the  man 
said,  “  Master,  wilt  thou  take  as  thy  half  that  which  is 
above  ground,  or  that  which  is  below  P  ”  Now  the  Devil 
saw  the  good  green  shoots  of  the  onions  sprouting  high, 
and  so  carried  these  off  as  his  share,  leaving  the  gardener 
chuckling  over  his  bargain.  But  when  wheat  time  came 
round,  and  the  man  was  sowing  his  glebe  on  a  day,  the 
Devil  looked  over  the  ditch  and  complained  that  he  had 
made  nothing  out  of  the  compact.  “  This  time,”  quoth  he, 
we  will  divide  differently,  and  thou  shalt  take  the  tops  ”  ; 
and  so  it  fell  out.  They  visited  the  tilth  together  when 
the  corn  was  ripe,  and  the  fellah  reaped  the  field  and 

1  Baldensperger,  P.E.F.,  1893,  207. 

2  Talmud ,  Bekoroth ,  86,  quoted  Jewish  Encycl .,  i,  289. 

3  For  the  Arabic  version  see  P.S.B.A. ,  January,  1908. 


XXXiV 


ASSYRIAN  MAGIC. 


took  away  the  ears,  leaving  the  Devil  stubbing  up  the 
roots.  Presently,  after  be  bad  been  digging  for  a  month, 
he  began  to  find  out  his  error,  and  went  to  the  man,  who 
was  cheerily  threshing  his  portion.  This  is  a  paltry 
quibble,”  said  Iblis,  “  thou  hast  cozened  me  this  twice.” 
“Nay,”  said  the  former,  “I  gave  thee  thy  desire;  and 
furthermore,  thou  didst  not  thresh  out  thine  onion-tops, 
as  I  am  doing  with  this.”  So  it  was  a  sanguine  Devil 
that  went  away  to  beat  the  dry  onion-stalks,  but  in  vain  ; 
and  he  left  Mosul  sullenly,  stalking  away  in  dudgeon,  and 
stopping  once  m  a  while  to  shake  his  hand  ogamst  so 
crafty  a  town.  “Cursed  be  ye,  ye  tricksters!  who  can 

outmatch  devilry  like  yours  P 

In  the  present  book  the  Assyrian  incantation- tablets  are 
frequently  used  as  a  base  for  the  various  hypotheses  put 
forward,  this  being  the  most  logical  method  at  present 
available.  In  the  cuneiform  tablets  we  have  the  actual 
wizardry  in  vogue  at  the  time  they  were  written,  which 
runs  at  least  from  the  seventh  century  onwards  until  the 
time  when  cuneiform  ceased  to  be  used.  Moreover,  in 
these  texts  we  are  dealing  with  no  underhand  sorcery 
surreptitiously  carried  on,  but  fair  and  open  magic  of 
which  the  value  is  attested  by  the  excellent  language  in 
which  they  are  couched,  and  the  high  regard  in  which 
the  class  which  made  such  a  profession  theirs  was  held. 
Throughout  the  rest  of  the  civilized  world  Chaldean 
magic  was  indeed  a  name  to  conjure  by,  particularly 
from  its  astrological  side,  which  through  its  thoroughness 
had  gained  great  repute.  “Stand  now,”  says  Isaiah,1 
“with  thine  enchantments,  and  with  the  multitude  of  thy 
sorceries,  wherein  thou  hast  laboured  from  thy.  youth  ; 

1  xlvii,  12,  13. 


THE  RENOWN  OF  THE  CHALDEANS. 


xxxv 


if  so  be  thou  shalt  be  able  to  profit,  if  so  be  thou  mayest 
prevail.  Thou  art  wearied  in  the  multitude  of  thy  counsels. 
Let  now  the  astrologers,  the  stargazers,  the  monthly 
prognosticators,  stand  up,  and  save  thee  from  the  things 
that  shall  come  upon  thee.”  The  word  Kasdim ,  ‘  Chaldeans,’ 
in  Assyrian  Kaldu ,  a  people  dwelling  on  the  Lower 
Euphrates  and  Tigris,  assumes  at  the  time  that  the  Book 
of  Daniel  was  written  the  significance  of  ‘magicians.’ 
The  Syriac  writers  attest  the  same  notoriety.  “Bardesan 
saith:  ‘Have  you  read  the  books  of  the  Chaldeans  which 
are  in  Babylon,  in  which  are  written  what  the  stars 
effect  by  their  associations  at  the  Nativities  of  men  p  ’  ” 1 
Plutarch2  quotes  the  Chaldeans  as  believing  that,  of 
the  planets,  two  are  beneficent  gods,  two  are  hostile, 
and  three  are  neutral.  The  heading  to  a  book  in  late 
Hebrew  (called  “The  Wisdom  of  the  Chaldeans”)  runs: 
“  This  is  the  book  used  by  the  Chaldeans  (which 
they  composed)  through  their  meditations  and  speculations 
in  divine  wisdom,  and  through  the  overflow  of  the 
spirit  of  prophecy  upon  them,  by  their  strong  adherence 
to  their  wisdom  and  to  their  meditations  in  the  divine 
wisdom  and  their  speculations  concerning  the  spheres 
(planets)  and  the  spirits  that  rule  those  spheres  and 
move  them.” 3  Among  Greek  writers  we  find  Strabo 4 
(died  a.d.  24)  saying  that  the  Chaldeans  were  skilled  in 
astronomy  and  the  casting  of  horoscopes,  and  .ZElian 5 
(third  century  a.d.)  quotes  both  Babylonians  and  Chaldeans 
as  possessing  a  considerable  knowledge  of  astronomy. 

1  Spicilegium,  ed.  Cureton,  15. 

2  De  Isid .,  xlviii. 

3  Gaster,  P.S.B.A.,  1900,  338. 

4  xvi,  i,  6. 

5  Peri  Zoon ,  A,  xxii,  ed.  Hercher,  Paris. 


XXXV 1 


MODERN  MAGICAL  BOOKS. 


Diodorus  Siculus,1  a  contemporary  of  Augustus,  says  that 
the  Babylonian  priests  observed  the  position  of  certain 
stars  in  order  to  cast  horoscopes,  and  that  they  interpreted 
dreams  and  derived  omens  from  the  movement  of  birds 
and  from  eclipses  and  earthquakes.  Magic  is  said  to 
have  been  introduced  among  the  Greeks  by  (Ethanes, 
who  came  into  Greece  with  Xerxes,  and  dispersed  the 
rudiments  of  it  wherever  he  had  an  opportunity.  It  was 
afterwards  much  improved  and  brought  to  perfection  by 
Democritus,  who  is  said  to  have  learned  it  out  of  the 
writings  of  certain  Phoenicians. “  Horace  °  voices  the 
popular  view — 

“  Tu,  ne  qusesieris  (scire  nefas)  quem  mihi,  quem  tibi 
Finem  di  dederint,  Leuconoe,  nec  Babylonios 
Temptaris  numeros.” 

Indeed,  in  modern  times  in  the  East,  from  Morocco  to 
Mesopotamia,  books  of  magic  are  by  no  means  rare,  and 
manuscripts  in  Arabic,  Hebrew,  Gershuni,  and  Syriac 
can  frequently  be  bought,  all  dealing  with  some  form  of 
magic  or  popular  medicine.  In  Suakin  in  the  Soudan 
I  was  offered  a  printed  book  of  astrology  in  Arabic, 
illustrated  by  the  most  grotesque  and  bizarre  woodcuts 
of  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac,  the  blocks  for  which  seem  to 
have  done  duty  in  other  places.  Such  books  existed  in 
manuscript  in  ancient  days,  as  is  vouched  for  by  the 
story  of  the  Sibylline  books  or  the  passage  in  Acts  xix,  19  : 
“  Hot  a  few  of  them  that  practised  curious  arts  brought 
their  books  together,  and  burned  them  in  the  sight  of  all.” 

It  is  to  Assurbanipal,  King  of  Assyria  b.c.  668-626, 
that  we  owe,  in  the  main,  our  knowledge  of  cuneiform 

1  ii,  29. 

2  Potter,  Arch.  Grcec.,  i,  406. 

3  Carmina ,  i,  11. 


A  BABYLONIAN  LETTER. 


XXXYll 


magic,  for  during  his  reign  book-collecting  became  a 
passion  with  him,  and  he  bad  established  a  system  of 
obtaining  copies  of  the  best  tablets  in  all  Irak.  The  great 
temple-cities  in  Babylonia  afforded  him  an  inexhaustible 
source  to  draw  on  for  the  formation  of  his  library  in 
Nineveh,  and  to  this  end  many  scribes  were  set  to  work 
to  copy  and  translate  the  ancient  tablets.  For  the  temples 
of  these  cities  were  like  the  modern  monasteries  which  still 
exist  in  the  East,  each  having  its  library  of  manuscripts, 
and  it  was  from  these  that  the  king  obtained  his  material 
and  made  the  base  of  his  great  work.  By  some  happy 
chance  there  are  still  extant  two  duplicate  copies  of  a 
letter  which  was  written  by  a  king  to  a  city  of  Babylonia, 
ordering  those  in  authority  to  search  the  hidden  store  of 
records  laid  in  the  shrines  of  the  gods.  These  two  date 
from  the  later  Babylonian  Empire,  and  it  is  quite  possible 
that  they  are  copies  of  the  original  letter  that  was  sent 
by  Assurbanipal  more  than  a  hundred  years  previously, 
and  preserved  in  Babylonia  as  a  valuable  record,  for  it  is 
on  the  model  of  the  royal  letters  of  his  period  : — 

V 

“  The  word  of  the  King  unto  Sadunu :  I  am  well,  mayst 
thou  be  happy.  The  day  that  thou  seest  this  letter  of 

V  V 

mine,  take  with  thee  Suma,  the  son  of  Suma-ukina, 
Bel-etir,  his  brother,  Apia,  the  son  of  Arkat-ilani,  and 
such  people  of  Borsippa  as  thou  knowest,  and  seek  out 
all  the  tablets  which  are  in  their  houses,  and  all  the 
tablets  laid  up  in  the  Temple  of  Ezida,  and  collect  the 
tablets  of  the  ...  of  the  King,  of  the  tablets  for 
the  days  of  the  month  Nisan,  the  stone  ...  of  the 
month  Tisri,  of  the  series  Bit-Sala\l  the  stone  . 

1  The  Incantation  Bit-Said1  is  known  from  K.  2832,  a  list  of  incan¬ 
tations  published  in  King’s  Babylonian  Magic  and  Sorcery ,  xix. 


XXXV111 


THE  INCANTATION  SERIES. 


for  4  reckoning  the  day/  1  the  four  stone  .  .  .  for  the 

head  of  the  royal  bed  and  the  royal  .  .  .  the  woods 

urkarinnu  and  cedar  for  the  head  of  the  royal  bed,  the 
series  ‘  Incantation : — May  Ea  and  Marduk  complete 
wisdom/  all  the  series  that  there  are  relating  to  war, 
besides  all  their  copious  documents  that  there  are,  the 
series  ‘  In  battle  a  staff  (P)  shall  not  come  near  the  man/ 
the  series  edin-na  dib-bi-da  e-gal  tuk-ra,  spells,  prayers, 
stone  inscriptions  and  those  that  are  excellent  for  (my) 
royalty,  the  series  (?)  Talcpirti  all  igi-nigin-na  (although 
this  is  a  trouble)  and  whatever  may  be  necessary  in  the 
palace,  and  seek  out  the  rare  tablets  such  as  are  to  be 
found  on  your  route,  but  do  not  exist  in  Assyria,  and 
send  them  to  me.  I  am  sending  the  authority  for  the 
satam  and  saku  officials.  Thou  shalt  put  them  in  thy 
strong-box.  No  one  shall  withhold  tablets  from  thee ; 
and  if  there  be  any  tablet  or  spell  which  I  have  not 
made  mention  of  to  you,  and  thou  shalt  learn  of  (it), 
and  it  is  good  for  my  palace,  search  for  it  and  get  it 
and  send  it  to  me.”  2 

But  in  addition  to  the  magical  tablets  from  Assur- 
banipal’s  library,  many  come  from  Babylonia,  written 
during  the  later  Babylonian  Empire.  Some  of  them  date 
to  the  reign  of  Alexander  and  others  are  as  late  as 
the  Arsacid  period,  and  there  is  consequently  no  lack 
of  material.  These  grimoires  were  written  in  series  of 
several  tablets,  each  set  being  given  some  name.  The  best 

1  On  the  phrase  “  reckoning  the  day  ”  see  my  Reports  of  the 
Magicians  and  Astrologers ,  xix.  It  refers  to  the  calculation  of  the 
duration  of  the  month,  as  to  whether  it  will  consist  of  twenty-nine  or 
thirty  days. 

2  B.M.  Nos.  25676  and  25678.  See  my  Late  Babylonian  Letters,  3  ff. 


THE  SURFU-  SERIES. 


xxxix 


known  at  present  are  the  Maklu  (‘Burning’),  Surpu 
(‘  Consuming  ’),  Utukki  Umniiti  (‘  Evil  Spirits  ’),  Ti’i 
(‘  Headaches  Asakhi  marsuti  (‘  Fever  Sickness  ’ 1),  Labartu 
(‘  Hag-demon  ’),  and  Nis  kati  (‘  Raising  of  the  hand  ’). 

There  are  also  large  classes  of  both  ceremonial  and  medical 
texts  which  throw  considerable  light  on  the  magical 
practices. 

The  series  J/^/w^contains  eight  tablets  all  giving  directions,  I , 
as  has  been  shown  earlier  in  this  chapter,  for  incantations 
and  spells  against  wizards  and  witches.  The  motive  which 
runs  through  the  whole  series  instructs  the  bewitched  person 
how  to  make  figures  of  his  enemies  and  then  destroy  them 
with  prayers.2  If  they  are  to  be  burnt,  then  the  Fire- god 
is  the  object  of  adoration — 

“  0  flaming  Fire-god,  mighty  son  of  Anu, 

Thou  art  the  fiercest  of  thy  brothers  ; 

Thou  that  canst  give  judgment  like  Sin  and  Samas, 

Judge  thou  my  case  and  grant  me  a  decision  ! 

Burn  up  my  sorcerer  and  sorceress  ! 

0  Fire-god,  burn  up  my  sorcerer  and  sorceress  ! 

0  Fire-god,  consume  my  sorcerer  and  sorceress  ! 

0  Fire-god,  burn  them  ! 

0  Fire-god,  consume  them  ! 

0  Fire-god,  overpower  them  ! 

0  Fire-god,  destroy  them  ! 

0  Fire-god,  carry  them  off  !  ”  3 

The  series  Surpu  consists  of  nine  tablets  which  contain 
prayers,  incantations,  and  exorcisms  against  the  Ban  or 
tabu  which  lies  on  the  man  through  some  unknown  sin 
or  uncleanness.  The  priest  recites  a  list  of  sins  which 

1  The  exact  translation  is  not  certain.  The  reading  asakku  (and  not 
asaklcu)  was  shown  to  be  correct  by  Morgenstern,  Doctrine  of  Sin  in 
Bab.  Bel.,  1905,  18. 

2  This  is  discussed  more  fully  in  the  chapter  on  Sympathetic  Magic. 

3  Maklu ,  Tablet  II,  1.  92. 


xl 


THE  UTUKKI  LIMNUTI-  SERIES. 


the  man  may  have  committed,  and  so  laid  himself  open 
to  the  Ban  which  is  now  plaguing  him. 

“  Hath  he  set  a  son  at  variance  with  a  father, 

A  father  with  a  son, 

A  daughter  with  a  mother, 

A  mother  wdth  a  daughter,”  1 

and  so  on.  A  great  many  of  the  sins  are  those  which 
are  now  reckoned  as  moral  offences,  all  pointing  to  a  very 
highly  civilized  community,  and  include  the  use  of  false 
weights,  the  acceptance  of  money  wrongfully  earned,  lying, 
stealing,  adultery,  and  murder.  But  there  is  another 
stratum  underlying  them  which  decidedly  points  to  a 
distinction  between  those  persons  who  are  ceremonially 
clean  and  those  who  are  not ;  briefly,  a  proof  of  the 
existence  of  the  tabu  among  the  Babylonians.  This  question 
is  discussed  at  length  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  subject. 

The  series  \)jug-hul- a -mes.  or  Utukki  limnuti,  ‘Evil 
Spirits,’  is,  as  its  name  implies,  a  series  of  spells  directed 
against  the  attacks  of  demons,  goblins,  and  ghosts,  and 
it  consisted  originally  of  at  least  sixteen  tablets,  of  which 
we  have  now  the  third,  fifth,  and  sixteenth ;  in  an  almost 
complete  form,  and  the  greater  part  of  four  others,  besides 
several  large  fragments  of  the  remainder.  They  are  for 
the  use  of  priests  or  exorcists  in  driving  out  the  devils 
from  possessed  persons,  and  the  general  tenor  is  the  same 
throughout  the  whole  text.  Devils  are  to  be  combated 
by  invoking  the  gods  to  help,  that  they  may  be  laid  under 
a  ban  or  divine  tabu.2  The  most  important  point  is  that 

1  & hirpu,  Tablet  II,  1.  20. 

2  Both  gods  and  demons  have  the  power  of  putting  a  ban  on  others  ; 
Tiamat,  in  the  Creation  Legend,  when  attacked  by  Marduk,  “  recited 
an  incantation,  pronounced  her  spell”  (King,  Seven  Tablets ,  71, 
Tablet  IV,  1.  91). 


THE  ASAKKI  MARSUT1  AND  TV  I- SERIES. 


xli 


a  categorical  description  shall  be  given  of  the  particular 
demon  in  question,  and  to  this  end,  as  it  is  obviously 
impossible  for  the  magician  to  make  an  exact  diagnosis, 
he  runs  through  long  lists  of  the  names  and  descriptions 
of  evil  spirits. 

Two  series,  written  for  the  purpose  of  curing  various 
bodily  ills  (the  Asakki  mav^uti  and  TVi)  are  similar  to  the 
preceding  in  many  points.  These  ailments  are  treated  as 
devils,  and  exorcised  frequently  with  ‘  atonement  ’-offerings  ; 
that  is  to  say,  sympathetic  magic  is  at  the  base  of  the 
treatment,  and  the  evil  influence  is  transferred  to  a  wax 
figure  representing  the  sick  man,  or  even  the  carcase  of  a 
pig  or  kid.1  The  Asakki  marsuti  originally  consisted  of  at 
least  twelve  tablets,  while  the  TVi  ended  at  the  ninth,  tablet. 

The  series  called  “  The  Raising  of  the  Hand  ”  (i.e.  prayer) 
is  another  devoted  to  magic.  It  consists  of  prayers  and 
incantations  to  various  deities,  sometimes  being  intended 
to  remove  the  evils  attendant  on  eclipses.  These  powers 
are  often  accompanied  by  directions  for  certain  ceremonies 
and  rites,  such  as  placing  a  censer  and  burning  incense. 

The  series  Labartuf  as  its  name  implies,  concerns  the 
evil  spirit  or  ‘  hag-demon  *  which  gives  its  name  to  these 
texts,  a  kind  of  female  devil  who  attacks  children  especially. 
Three  tablets  are  at  present  extant,  giving  directions  for 
making  figures  of  the  labartu  and  the  incantations  to  be 
repeated  over  them.2 

The  Babylonian  ritual  was  as  elaborate  as  the  Jewish. 
Ritual  ceremonies  consisted,  with  the  Babylonians  as  with 

1  This  is  discussed  more  fully  in  the  chapter  on  the  Atonement 
Sacrifice. 

2  See  the  next  chapter  for  a  fuller  description  of  the  labartu ,  and 
the  methods  employed  against  her. 


xlii 


THE  RITUAL  TABLETS. 


other  nations,  of  interminable  repetitions  and  tedious 
directions  for  the  proper  number  of  censers,  tables,  wine- 
jugs,  and  other  furniture  used  in  making  sacrifices,  of 
instructions  for  the  different  sorts  of  food,  flesh,  and  wine 
which  must  be  used,  and  how  each  is  to  be  treated.  The 
following  is  a  specimen : — 

“  Before  the  rising  of  the  sun  thou  shalt  prepare  one  offering  for 

v 

Samas  : 

v 

One  censer  thou  shalt  place  before  Samas, 

One  censer  thou  shalt  place  before  Adad, 

One  censer  thou  shalt  place  before  Marduk, 

One  censer  thou  shalt  place  before  Aa, 

One  censer  thou  shalt  place  before  Bunene, 

One  censer  thou  shalt  place  before  Kettu, 

One  censer  thou  shalt  place  before  Mesaru, 

One  censer  thou  shalt  place  before  the  god  of  the  man, 

V  y 

A  table  thou  shalt  place  behind  the  censer  which  is  before  Samas: 
Thou  shalt  place  thereon  four  jugs  of  sesame  wine, 

Thou  shalt  set  thereon  three  times  twelve  loaves  made  of  wheat, 
Thou  shalt  add  a  mixture  of  honey  and  butter,  and  sprinkle  with 
salt  : 

A  table  thou  shalt  place  behind  the  censer  which  is  before  Adad, 
A  table  thou  shalt  place  behind  the  censer  which  is  before 
Marduk.”  1 

And  so  on. 

The  medical  texts  are  also  of  great  help  in  the  study  of 
Assyrian  demonology,  inasmuch  as  the  physician  was 
always  receptive  of  aid  from  the  sister  art.  Hence,  inter¬ 
spersed  among  prescriptions  of  drugs  and  herbs,  we  find 
short  incantations  scattered  through  the  pharmacopoeia, 
for  the  Babylonian  medicine-man  was  but  a  witch-doctor 
with  a  herbalist’s  knowledge  of  simples  combined  with 

1  Zimmern,  Babylonische  Religion ,  ii,  1,  105  ;  see  also  Gray,  in 
Assyrian  and  Babylonian  Literature  (ed.  R.  F.  Harper),  403.  Many 
similar  tablets  have  been  published  by  Zimmern,  loc.  cit. 


THE  LEGEND  OF  THE  WORM. 


xliii 


an  ingenuous  belief  in  abracadabra.  These  spells,  brief 
though  they  be,  often  reveal  some  little  superstition,  some 
remnant  of  folk-tale,  which  sometimes  reappear  in  the 
traditions  of  the  dwellers  in  modern  Irak.  The  belief  in 
little  worms  that  eat  the  teeth  is  current  in  Mesopotamia, 
in  China,  and  among  the  Malays,  and  yet  it  can  be 
shown  to  have  existed  in  Babylonia  two  thousand  years 
ago  and  more.  This  is  the  cuneiform  legend : — 

“  After  Anu  [had  created  the  Heavens], 

The  Heavens  created  [the  Earth], 

The  Earth  created  the  Rivers, 

The  Rivers  created  the  Canals, 

The  Canals  created  the  Marshes, 

The  Marshes  created  the  Worm. 

Came  the  Worm  (and)  wept  before  the  Sun -god, 

Before  Ea  came  her  tears. 

‘  What  wilt  thou  give  me  for  my  food, 

What  wilt  thou  give  me  for  my  devouring  1  ? 5 
‘  I  will  give  thee  ripe  figs,2 
And  scented  .  .  .  wood.’ 3 
‘  What  are  these  ripe  figs  to  me, 

Or  scented  .  .  .  wood  ? 

Let  me  drink  among  the  teeth, 

And  set  me  on  the  gums(?), 

That  I  may  devour1  the  blood  of  the  teeth, 

And  of  their  gums  (?)  destroy  the  strength  (?),4 
Then  shall  I  hold  the  bolt  of  the  door. 

‘  Since  thou  hast  said  this,  O  worm, 

Ea  shall  smite  thee  with  the  might  of  his  fist. 

1  Literally  ‘  destroy.’ 

2  In  my  translation  in  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits  this  was  probably 
incorrectly  translated  as  ‘  dried  bones.’  is-ma  is  the  word  in  question, 
and  I  read  it  as  a  Semitic  word  is-ma,  connected  with  nxy  ‘  bone.’ 

V  V  ^ 

More  probably  it  should  be  regarded  as  an  ideogram  for  tittu  (see 
Muss-Arnolt,  Dictionary ,  sub  voce),  i.e.  e 

3  The  line  is  difficult  because  of  an  unusual  ideogram. 

4  Kusasi ,  unknown  elsewhere. 


xliv 


THE  HEART-PLANT. 


Prayer  for  the  Toothache. 


Ritual  for  this : — Mix  fermented  drink,  the  plant  sakilbir,  and  oil 
together,  repeat  the  incantation  three  times,  (and)  put  it  on  his 
tooth.”  1 

In  Mosul  I  was  given  some  dried  henbane  berries,  which 
had  been  brought  down  from  the  hills,  and  was  told  on 
good  native  authority  that  a  man  with  toothache  would 
fumigate  his  teeth  with  them  until  the  ‘  worm  ’  dropped 
out  of  his  mouth.2 

The  same  principle  of  ‘  developed  ’  magic  is  apparent  in 
the  charm  of  the  ‘  Heart-plant/  which  is  presumably  the 
Hyoscycimus  muticus,  which  grows  in  Sinai  (Makan),  the 
Arabs  calling  it  sakran,  ‘  drunken  5 — 

“  The  Heart-plant  sprang  up  in  Makan,  and  the  Moon-god  [rooted  it 
out  and], 

[Planted  it  in  the  mountains] ;  the  Sun-god  brought  it  down  from 
the  mountains  [and] 

[Planted  it  in]  the  earth  ;  its  root  filleth  the  earth,  its  horns  stretch 
out  to  heaven. 

[It  seized  on  the  heart  of  the  Sun-god  when]  he  .  .  .  ,  it  seized  on 
the  heart  of  the  Moon -god  in  the  clouds,  it  seized  on  the  heart  of 
the  ox  in  the  stall, 

[It  seized  on  the  heart  of  the  goat]  in  the  fold,  it  seized  on  the  heart 
of  the  ass  in  the  stable, 

[It  seized  on  the  heart  of  the]  dog  in  the  kennel,  it  seized  on  the 
heart  of  the  pig  in  the  stye, 

[It  seized  on  the  heart  of  the]  man  in  his  pleasure,  it  seized  on  the 
heart  of  the  maid  in  her  sleeping-chamber, 

[It  seized  on  the  heart  of  N.],  son  of  N.,  ...”  3 * 

1  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits,  ii,  160. 

2  In  Les  Plantes  Magiques ,  ed.  Sedir,  1902,  it  is  recommended  to  rub 
the  gums  with  Senecio  vulgaris  and  then  replant  it. 

3  Kiichler,  Beitr.  zur  Kenntnis  der  Assyr.-Babyl.  Medizin ,  9.  ‘  Stable,’ 

‘  kennel,’  ‘  stye,’  ‘  pleasure,’  ‘  sleeping-chamber  ’  are  all  a  little  doubtful 

as  translations.  On  the  Hyoscyamus  see  preface  to  Devils,  i. 


CEREMONY  FOR  REBUILDING  A  TEMPLE. 


xlv 


The  principle  is  adopted  in  other  forms  of  magic — 

“  When  the  wall  of  a  temple  falls  (it  is  necessary)  to  dig  the  foundation, 
The  baril- seer  shall  bless  (?)  the  place  of  this  house. 

In  a  favourable  month,  on  a  fortunate  day,  in  the  night,  they  shall 
light  an  abra  for  Ea  and  Marduk, 

Make  offerings  to  Ea  and  Marduk  ;  the  priest  shall  make  a  prayer, 
The  singer  shall  sing  a  dirge  :  in  the  morning  over  the  beams  of  that 
house, 

v 

Three  offerings  thou  shalt  offer  to  Ea,  Samas,  and  Marduk, 

360  cakes  of  wheat  meal,  dates,  (and)  ater- meal  thou  shalt  offer, 
Honey-syrup,  butter,  and  sweet  oil  (semne)  [thou  shalt  offer], 

Three  acfc^zw-vessels  thou  shalt  place,  [and  fill  (?)  them]  with  wine, 
A  brazier  thou  shalt  place  .  .  . 

Thou  shalt  sacrifice  two  lambs  .  .  . 

v 

The  priest  shall  sing  before  [Ea],  Samas,  and  Marduk, 

[Several  lines  broken .] 

...  a  censer  the  priest  shall  bring, 

And  shall  pour  forth  the  [honey-syrup],  butter,  milk,  sesame-wine, 
wine,  and  sweet  oil. 

And  he  shall  repeat  the  incantation  ‘When  Anu  created  the  heaven  ’ 
in  front  of  the  brickwork. 


‘When  Anu  created  the  heaven, 

Ea  created  the  Ocean,  his  dwelling, 

Ea  in  the  Ocean  pulled  off*  a  piece  of  clay, 

He  fashioned  the  God  of  Brickwork  for  the  renewal  .  .  . 

He  formed  reeds  and  canebrakes  for  the  use  of  building.  .  .  .’  ” 1 

It  goes  on  to  describe  the  various  gods,  etc.,  who  take 
part  in  building. 

The  reference  to  ancient  occurrences,  when  cures  are 
being  effected,  occur  likewise  in  Egyptian  magic.  For 
inflammations  there  was  a  remedy  among  the  Egyptians,, 
compounded  with  the  milk  of  a  woman  that  had  borne 
a  man-child,  and  over  this  a  charm  to  be  recited  :  “  0  my 
son  Horus !  it  burns  on  the  hills ;  no  water  is  there,  no 


1  Weissbach,  Bab.  Miscellen ,  32. 


xlvi  THREE  COMPONENTS  IN  AN  INCANTATION. 

helper  is  there ;  bring  water  over  the  flood  (i.e.  the  water 
of  the  inundation)  to  put  out  the  fire.”  Wiedemann 
explains  this  as  a  myth  of  universal  conflagration,  and 
just  as  Horus  had  extinguished  the  flames  on  that  occasion 
so  would  he  subdue  the  inflammation.1 

In  all  magic  three  things  are  necessary  for  the  perfect 
exorcism.  First,  the  Word  of  Power,  by  which  the  sorcerer 
invokes  divine  or  supernatural  aid  to  influence  the  object 
of  his  undertaking.  Secondly,  the  knowledge  of  the  name 
or  description  of  the  person  or  demon  he  is  working  his 
charm  against,  with  something  more  tangible,  be  it  nail- 
parings  or  hair,  in  the  human  case.  Thirdly,  some  drug, 
to  which  was  originally  ascribed  a  power  vouchsafed  by 
the  gods  for  the  welfare  of  mankind,  or  some  charm  or 
amulet,  or,  in  the  broadest  sense,  something  material,  even 
a  wax  figure  or  ‘  atonement  ’  sacrifice,  to  aid  the  physician 
in  his  final  effort.  Almost  all  incantations  can  be  split 
up  into  three  main  divisions,  each  with  its  origin  in  these 
three  desideratives. 

The  Word  of  Power  consists  in  its  simplest  form  of  the 
name  of  some  divine  being  or  thing,  called  in  to  help  the 
magician  with  superhuman  aid.  In  the  New  Testament 
its  use  is  obvious.  “  Master,  we  saw  one  casting  out 
devils  in  thy  name  ” 2  exactly  expresses  the  beliefs  of  all 
time,  and  more  instructive  still  is  the  rebuke  which  the 
Pharisees  brought  down  on  themselves  by  saying,  “  This 
fellow  doth  not  cast  out  devils,  but  by  Beelzebub  the 
prince  of  the  devils.”  3  Just  as  a  Christian  monk,  Rabban 
Hormizd  the  Persian,  banned  “the  devils  of  the  impure 

1  Wiedemann,  Religion ,  273,  quoting  Pap.  Ebers,  pi.  lxix,  1.  3  ff. 

2  Mark  ix,  38  :  cf.  also  Matt,  vii,  22  ;  Luke  ix,  49. 

3  Matt,  xii,  24. 


THE  WORD  OF  POWER. 


xlvii 


Ignatius”  with  the  words  “By  Jesus  Christ  I  bind  you, 
0  ye  trembling  horde,”  1  so  would  an  Assyrian  magician, 
a  thousand  years  earlier,  end  his  spells  against  demons 
by  sayin  g>  heaven  be  ye  banned !  by  earth  be  ye 

banned !  ”  2 

But  the  Assyrian  exorcisms  show  a  far  more  elaborate 
growth.  Ea  and  Marduk  are  the  two  most  powerful  gods 
in  Assyrian  sorcery,  the  latter,  as  the  son  of  Ea,  being 
appealed  to  by  the  magician  to  act  as  intermediary  with 
his  father,  who  is  learned  in  all  spells.  In  numerous 
incantations  it  is  recognized  as  a  regular  formula  to  repeat 
the  legend  of  Marduk  going  to  his  father  Ea  for  advice  ; 
and  this  was  such  a  common  procedure  that  the  later 
scribes  abbreviated  the  incident  by  putting  the  initial 
words  of  the  three  principal  phrases  in  the  story :  “  Marduk 
hath  seen”;  “What  I”;  “Go,  my  son.”  The  full  recital 
is  as  follows  : — 

“  Marduk  hath  seen  him  (the  sick  man),  and  hath  entered 
the  house  of  his  father  Ea,  and  hath  said  :  ‘  Father, 

headache  from  the  underworld  hath  gone  forth.’3  Twice 
he  hath  said  unto  him,  ‘  What  this  man  hath  done  he 
knoweth  not ;  whereby  may  he  be  relieved  P  ’  Ea  hath 

1  Budge,  Histories  of  Rabban  Hormizd ,  474.  ‘  To  bind 5  is  simply 

to  lay  under  a  ban.  It  runs  through  all  Assyrian  magic  :  it  is  said  of 
the  Sun-god  sa  suksura  tapattar ,  “  him  that  is  bound  thou  loosest  ” 
(Gray,  Samas  Religious  Texts ,  18-19,  1.  17),  and  attama  mudi  riksisunu 
muhallik  raggi  mupassir  nam-bul-bi-6,  “  thou  knowest  their  bonds, 
destroying  evil,  making  release”  (IT. A./.,  iv,  17,  rev.  14). 

2  Christian  priests  in  the  Orient  were  capable  of  turning  their 
power  of  ‘banning’  to  practical  account,  as  is  clear  from  Jacob  of 
Edessa,  Qu.  47,  “  Concerning  a  priest  who  writes  a  curse  and  hangs  it 
on  a  tree  that  no  man  may  eat  of  the  fruit  ”  (Robertson  Smith,  Religion 
of  the  Semites,  164). 

3  This  line  is  always  varied,  it  being  the  first  line  of  the  tablet. 


xlviii  PARALLELS  PROM  THE  MALAYS. 

answered  his  son  Marduk,  ‘  0  my  son,  what  dost  thou  not 
know,  what  more  can  I  give  thee  ?  0  Marduk,  what  dost 

thou  not  know,  what  can  I  add  to  thy  knowledge  ?  What 
I  know,  thou  knowest  also.  Go,  my  son  Marduk  ...  ; 

and  Ea  then  gives  his  son  the  prescription  to  be  used  in 
healing  the  patient.  This  method  of  quoting  at  length 
such  an  episode  is  merely  the  development  of  the  Word 
of  Power.1 * 

Malay  ceremonies  are  very  similar  in  principle  to  those 
of  the  Babylonians.  To  make  a  ‘  neutralising  ’  charm  the 
magician  must  say — 

“Not  mine  are  these  materials, 

They  are  the  materials  of  Kemal-ul-hakim  ; 

Not  to  me  belongs  this  neutralising  charm, 

To  Malim  Saidi  belongs  this  neutralising  charm. 

It  is  not  I  who  apply  it, 

It  is  Malim  Karimun  who  applies  it.'5  3 

In  an  Assyrian  medical  text  the  parallel  is  complete — 

“(The  sickness)  will  not  return  unto  N.,  son  of  N. 

The  Incantation  is  not  invented  of  mankind, 

It  is  the  Incantation  of  Ba’u  and  Gula, 

The  Incantation  of  Nin-aha-kuddu,  the  lord  of  incantation  ; 

It  is  they  who  have  performed, 

And  I  have  adopted.”  3 

The  story  of  Marduk  going  to  his  father  Ea  for 
a  prescription  is  duplicated  in  Hermes  Trismegistus,  in 

1  Jastrow  says  ( Religion ,  German  ed.,  275)  that  from  the  fact  that 
Ea  and  Eridu  are  so  often  mentioned,  the  theory  is  suggested  that  we 
may  ultimately  trace  many  incantations  to  the  temple  of  Ea  that  once 
stood  in  Eridu  ;  and  that  when  Girru  and  Nuzku  are  mentioned  the 
incantations  must  be  referred  to  the  authority  of  the  priests  of  the 

temples  of  these  gods.  On  the  gods  of  the  incantation  see  ibid.,  289. 

3  Skeat,  Malay  Magic ,  427. 

3  P.S.B.A.,  February,  1908.  The  text  is  from  my  copy  in  C.T.,  xxiii, 
3,  13  ff.,  and  10,  20  ff. 


TREASURES  GUARDED  BY  SACRED  WORDS. 


xlix 


his  dialogues  with  his  son :  “  In  Hermes  it  is  said,  I  am 
afraid ,  Father ,  of  the  enemy  in  my  house :  To  whom  he  made 
answer,  Son,  take  the  Dog  of  Corascene,  and  the  bitch  of 
Armenia,  and  joyn  them  together  etc.1 

In  Egypt,  as  far  back  as  3500  b.c.,  it  is  stated  in  the 
Pyramid  texts  of  Unas  that  a  book  with  words  of  magical 
power  was  buried  with  him.  In  Egyptian  lore  a  demon 
could  do  no  more  mischief  to  a  man  who  called  him  correctly 
by  name  in  the  Underworld,  and  if  the  deceased  named 
a  gate  it  flew  open  before  him.2  It  is  only  “  Open, 
sesame  ”  in  another  form. 

Treasures  are  kept  locked  by  means  of  sacred  words. 
It  is  said  that  Hermes  Abootat  built  treasure-chambers 
in  Upper  Egypt,  and  set  up  stones  containing  magic 
inscriptions,  which  he  locked  and  guarded  by  the  charm  of 
a  certain  magic  alphabet  “  extracted  from  the  regions  of 
darkness.”  This  story  (with  the  alphabet)  is  given  in 
the  Ancient  Alphabets  of  Ahmad  ibn  Abubekr.3  In  an 
Ethiopic  work,  The  Magic  Book  of  the  Disciples ,  it  is 
said :  “  And  everybody  who  believes  and  invokes  and  reads 
[the  long  list  of  names],  by  these  names  of  Christ  let  him 
be  saved  from  sin,  and  from  all  bad  and  wicked  and 
treacherous  men,  and  from  all  diseasefs]  of  soul  and  body, 
and  from  all  demons  and  evil  spirits.” 4  In  late  Hebrew 
charms  the  sorcerer  calls  on  angels  or  other  heavenly 
powers  to  help  him  :  “  Ye  holy,  powerful  angels,  I  adjure 

you,  just  as  this  pot  is  burnt  in  the  fire,  so  shall  ye 

1  Salmon,  Kalid ,  1707  (in  his  Medicina  Bract.,  299). 

2  Wiedemann,  Realms  of  Egyptian  Dead,  52. 

3  Ed.  Hammer,  1806,  6.  It  is  curious  to  see  the  belief  of  the  modern 
Arabs  that  the  Jinn  are  guardians  of  a  hidden  treasure  (see  p.  62) 

4  Littmann,  J.A.O.S. ,  xxv,  26. 

d 


1 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  NAME  IN  MAGIC. 


burn  in  fire  the  heart  of  N.,  son  of  N.  (to  follow),  after 
N.,  the  son  (or  daughter)  of  N.”  1  In  the  Talmud  there 
is  a  story  of  R.  Joshua  and  R.  Akiba,  who,  on  going  to 
the  baths,  saw  a  magician  who  uttered  a  magic  word  and 
held  them  prisoners.  In  return,  R.  Joshua  pronounced 
the  word  of  power  that  he  knew,  and  immediately  the 
door  barred  the  way  for  the  magician’s  egress.2 

Enough  has  been  said  on  this  use  of  magical  names 
as  words  of  power  ;  the  second  component  of  the  perfect 
charm  was  that  the  magician  should  know  something,  even 
if  only  the  name,  of  the  person  or  demon  whom  he  hoped 
to  bring  into  subjection.  The  origin  of  this  would  appear 
to  have  arisen  in  the  beliefs  about  hair,  rags,  or  nail- 
parings,  which  are  collected  and  wrought  into  the  charm 
as  the  connecting  links  between  it  and  the  victim.  If 
these  are  wanting,  then  the  name  alone  will  be  enough, 
for  want  of  anything  better  ;  in  the  case  of  a  demon  it 
is  obviously  the  only  emanation  that  the  sorcerer  can 


1  See  my  article  The  Folklore  of  Mossoul,  P.S.B.A. ,  1907,  170,  No.  9. 
This  is  particularly  the  case  with  the  name  iao  (see  Baudissin,  Studien , 
189).  Hebrew  magic  was  always  respected  by  Gentile  nations,  as  is 
testified  to  by  the  way  in  which  the  Hebrew  divine  names  are  used  as 
words  of  power.  In  the  Greek  incantations  this  use  is  prevalent  (see 
Leemans,  Papyri  Greed ),  and  even  in  Demotic  Egyptian  it  is  found. 
To  prevent  a  shipwreck  a  Demotic  papyrus  prescribes  the  following  : 
“  Ce  nom,  si  tu  l’invoques  au-devant  d’(une)  tempete,  elle  sera  sans 
naufrage,  h  cause  des  nomes  des  Dioskoros  qui  (sont)  dedans,  afin  qu’il 
sauve  tu  crieras  :  Anuk,  Adonai,  la  formule  (est  d’une  langue)  etrangere, 
il  donnera  une  grande  force  (et)  il  n’y  aura  pas  de  desastre”  (Groff, 
Etudes  sur  la  Sorcellerie ,  memoires  presentes  d  Vinstitut  egyptien ,  Cairo, 
1897,  iii,  fasc.  iv).  Groff  sees  in  this  Anuk  Adonai  a  possible 
emendation  for  ♦rtK  mx  in  Jonah.  In  the  Greek  papyri  the 
Assyrian  name  Ereskigal  has  been  found  under  the  form  EpecrxtyaX. 
This  was  pointed  out  first  by  Legge  ( P.S.B.A. ,  February,  1901,  47). 

2  Sanhedrin ,  vii  (19). 


CEREMONIES. 


Ii 


obtain  of  him,  and  hence  to  learn  the  name  came  to  be 
regarded  as  the  equivalent  of  obtaining  something  more 
tangible.1  This  is  the  reason  for  the  long  catalogues  of 
devils  that  the  Babylonian  wizard  repeats  in  the  hope 
that  he  may  hit  on  the  correct  diagnosis  of  the  disease 
demon,  who  will  straightway  come  forth  when  he  perceives 
that  his  name  is  known.  “  Whether  thou  art  an  evil 
Spirit,  or  an  evil  Demon,  or  an  evil  Ghost,  or  an  evil 
Devil,  or  ail  evil  God,  or  an  evil  Fiend,  or  sickness,  or 
death,  or  Phantom  of  Night,  or  Wraith  of  Night,  or  fever, 
or  evil  pestilence,  be  thou  removed  from  before  me,”  2  or 
even  longer  catalogues  of  ghosts  of  people  who  have  died 

unnatural  deaths,  or  have  been  left  unburied,  who  have 

/ 

returned  to  torment  the  living  that  the  rites  necessary  to 
give  them  rest  may  be  paid.3 

The  third  and  last  part  of  the  spell,  as  we  have  already 
mentioned,  is  the  ceremony  with  water,  drugs,  amulets, 
wax  figures,  etc.  The  simplest  form  that  this  can  take 
is  pure  water  with  which  the  demoniac  is  washed,  plainly 
with  the  principle  of  cleansing  lying  underneath  it.4  When 
a  man  has  fallen  sick  of  a  headache,  the  Assyrian  magician 
takes  water  from  two  streams,  at  the  spot  where  they  run 
into  one  another,  which,  like  the  cross-roads,  is  always  a 
place  for  magic.  With  this  water  he  sprinkles  the  patient, 
adding  due  enchantments.5  For  some  other  form  of  disease 
the  priest  will  cleanse  him  with  water  in  which  certain 
herbs  have  been  steeped,6  a  custom  still  prevalent  among 
the  Malays.  After  childbirth  among  the  Malays  a  part 

1  This  is  more  fully  discussed  in  the  chapter  on  the  Atonement. 

2  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits,  i,  16,  17,  11.  154  ff.  3  Ibid.,  xxx  ff. 

4  On  the  holiness  of  water  see  Baudissin,  Studien,  ii,  148. 

5  Devils ,  ii,  Tablet  c  P,’  1.  65  ff.  6  Ibid.,  Tablet  ‘  T,5 1.  30  ff. 


lii 


THE  INCANTATION  OE  ERIDU. 


of  the  ceremony  consists  in  administering  an  extraordinary 
mixture,  called  in  Selangor  the  ‘  Hundred  Herbs/  but  in 
Malacca  merely  ‘  pot-herbs/  which  is  concocted  from  all 
kinds  of  herbs,  roots,  and  spices.  The  ingredients  are  put 
into  a  large  vessel  of  water  and  left  to  soak,  a  portion  of 
the  liquor  being  strained  off  and  given  to  the  patient  as 
a  potion  every  morning  for  about  ten  days.1 

Another  Assyrian  spell  is  still  more  explicit — “  May 
all  that  is  evil  .  .  .  [in  the  body]  of  N.,  [be  carried  off] 
with  the  water  of  his  body  and  the  washings  of  his  hands, 
and  may  the  river  carry  it  away  down- stream.”  2  The 
explanation  of  the  phrase  “  perform  the  Incantation  of 
Eridu,”  which  is  so  often  prescribed,  must  be  some  simple 
ceremony  of  this  kind,  for  Eridu  is  the  home  of  Ea,  the 
sea-god.  It  is  not  probable,  as  an  alternative  explanation, 
that  the  doctors  recommended  a  frequent  use  of  the 
ceremony  which  begins  “In  Eridu  groweth  the  kiskanu ,”3 
the  possibility  being  that  the  scribe,  as  usual,  refers  to 
the  spell  by  part  of  its  first  line.  It  is  very  elaborate, 
however,  to  be  merely  an  adjunct  to  the  main  exorcism, 
and  further,  in  this  same  text  mention  is  made  of  an 
“  Incantation  of  the  Deep,”  which  is  probably  a  purification 
of  a  similar  kind. 

The  following  treatment  is  interesting  : — 

“  [Marduk  hath  seen  :]  ‘  What  I  ’ ;  Go,  my  son, 

Against  the  (fever-)heat  and  cold  unkindly  for  the  flesh, 

Fill  a  bowl  with  water  from  a  pool  that  no  hand  hath  touched, 

Put  therein  tamarisk,  mastakal ,  ginger  (?),  horned  alkali,  mixed  (?) 
wine, 

1  Skeat,  Malay  Magic ,  347. 

2  IF. A./.,  ii,  516,  11.  1  ff.  For  the  evil  influences  washed  away  by 
water  see  footnote  to  p.  129. 

3  Devils ,  i,  Tablet  ‘  K,5  1.  183  ff.  The  Sumerian  begins  with  the 
word  nun-ki,  i.e.  Eridu. 


WATER  IN  MAGIC. 


liii 


Put  therein  a  shining  (?)  ring, 

Give  him  pure  water  to  drink, 

Pour  the  water  upon  this  man, 

Pull  up  a  root  of  saffron, 

Pound  (?)  up  pure  salt  and  pure  alkali, 

Fat  of  the  matku- bird,  brought  from  the  mountains  put  therein,  and 

Anoint  (therewith)  the  body  of  that  man  seven  times.”  1 

Elsewhere  the  rabisu- demon  is  thus  washed  away : 2 
“  May  Marduk,  eldest  son  of  Eridu,  sprinkle  him  wTith 
pure  water,  clean  water,  bright  water,  limpid  water,  with 
the  water  twice  seven  times ;  may  he  be  pure,  may  he  be 
clean  ;  let  the  evil  rabisu  go  forth  and  stand  away  from 
him ;  may  a  kindly  s<?<f^-genius,  may  a  kindly  lamassu- 
genius  be  present  near  his  body.” 

But  far  above  ordinary  wTater  was  the  sacredness  of  the 
Euphrates.  Tacitus  3  relates  that  the  Armenians  reverenced 
it ;  Lucian 4  says  that  twice  a  year  a  great  concourse  of 
worshippers  assembled  at  the  Temple  (of  Hierapolis) 
bearing  water  from  “  the  sea,”  a  synonym  for  the 
Euphrates,  which  was  poured  out  in  the  temple.  Among 
the  Arabs,  if  water  from  the  Euphrates  is  procurable,  it 
should  be  sprinkled  on  the  new-born  babe’s  forehead.5 
To  the  Hebrews  it  was  always  “  the  River,”  and  the 
Talmud  contains  some  reference  to  this  veneration.  At 
the  sight  of  Babylon  one  should  recite  five  benedictions ; 
thus,  on  seeing  the  Euphrates :  “  Praised  be  the  Author 

1  W.A.L,  iv,  26,  7. 

2  Haupt,  A.S.K.T.,  11,  iii,  1.  On  another  text  dealing  with  puri¬ 
fication  by  water  see  W.A.I.,  ii,  58,  No.  6. 

3  Quoted  by  Minas  Tcheraz  on  Armenian  Magic,  Trans.  Ninth  Or. 
Congr .,  ii,  826. 

4  De  Dea  Syria ,  §  13.  Quoted  by  Robertson  Smith,  Rel.  Sem.,  232. 
He  compares  also  Melito,  Spicilegium  Syriacum,  25.  To  the  dwellers  in 
Mesopotamia  the  Euphrates  was  the  sea  (Philostratus,  Vita  Apoll. ,  i,  20). 

5  Hadji  Khan,  With  Pilgrims  to  Mecca ,  47. 


liv 


WATER  IN  MAGIC. 


of  Creation  ”  ;  at  the  sight  of  the  idols,  “  Praised  be  He 
who  is  longsuffering  ”  ;  at  the  sight  of  the  ruins  of 
the  palace  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  “  Praised  be  He  who  hath 
destroyed  the  palace  of  this  impious  one  ”  ;  on  seeing  the 
place  of  the  fiery  furnace  of  Hanania,  or  Daniel's  den  of 
lions,  “Praised  be  He  who  performed  miracles  in  favour 
of  our  ancestors  in  this  place.”  If  one  sees  the  place 
(now  desert)  from  which  men  used  to  take  earth  to  spread 
on  animals  (“  which  constitutes  a  sort  of  baptism  ”), 
“  Praised  be  He  that  talketh  and  acteth,  who  ordereth 
and  keepeth  His  promises”  (to  destroy  idolatry).1 2  Older 
than  these  customs,  probably,  is  the  Assyrian  hymn — 

“  0  thou  River,  who  didst  create  all  things, 

When  the  great  gods  dug  thee  out 
They  set  prosperity  upon  thy  banks, 

Within  thee  Ea,  the  King  of  the  Deep,  created  his  dwelling.’5  3 

But  most  rivers  were  doubtless  famous  in  their  own 
localities.  In  Palestine  it  was  the  Jordan  which  could  heal 
leprosy,  as  in  the  case  of  Naaman,3  and  remove  the  tabu, 
just  as  in  later  times  John  baptized  all  the  region  round 
about  therein.4 

The  origin  is  doubtless  to  be  sought  in  the  worship  of 
river- gods,  just  as  in  modern  times  in  Palestine  streams 
are  venerated  because  of  their  local  saint.  Shekh  Yuseph 
el-hagg,  of  Nebk,  says  with  respect  to  the  saint  who  has 
charge  of  the  streams  at  Nebk,  whose  name  is  Mohammed 
el-Ghuffary,  that  he  appears  in  various  forms  :  “  sometimes 
as  an  old  man,  sometimes  as  a  young  man  in  white,  but 

1  Berakhoth ,  ix,  2,  ed.  Schwab,  151. 

2  L.  W.  King,  Seven  Tablets ,  i,  129.  3  2  Kings  v,  10. 

4  Matt,  iii,  5.  On  Baptism  and  Christian  Archaeology  see  Studia 

Biblica ,  v,  239-361. 


ASHES  IN  MAGIC. 


lv 


always  in  human  form ;  some  see  him  at  night,  others 
see  him  by  day,  some  see  him  in  dreams,  only  those  who 
have  the  light  in  their  hearts  see  him.”  1 

From  these  cases  it  is  but  a  step  to  the  ‘  holy  water.’ 
In  the  extraordinary  ceremony  for  the  ordeal  of  adultery 
in  Numbers  v,  11  ff.,  the  priest  takes  “holy  water”  in  an 
earthen  vessel  and  puts  dust  of  the  floor  of  the  tabernacle 
therein,  while  the  accused  woman  is  brought  before  Yahweh 
with  her  hair  unbound  and  a  meal-ofiering  in  her  hands. 
Then  the  priest  is  to  make  the  woman  swear,  writing  the 
oath  in  a  book  and  washing  it  out  in  the  “  water  ot 
bitterness,”  which  the  woman  must  then  drink.  If  the 
accusation  be  true,  then  she  shall  swell  up  and  her  thigh 
fall  away,  but  if  false,  then  nothing  shall  happen.2 

Among  the  Greeks  purification  by  water  was  common 
in  the  case  of  demoniac  possession.  After  the  exorcism 
of  the  evil  divinity,  the  patient  was  washed  clean  of  the 
sins  which  had  brought  on  the  sickness,  the  body  and  soul 
being  purified  by  water  and  fumigations  (Ov/aid^ara).3 

One  of  the  most  curious  directions  for  making  magic 
ashes  for  purification  is  contained  in  Numbers.4  A  red 
heifer  without  blemish  is  to  be  slaughtered,  and  the  priest 
must  then  sprinkle  some  of  the  blood  seven  times  before 
the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation.  The  whole  of  the 
carcase  is  then  to  be  burnt,  and  the  priest  is  to  cast  cedar, 
hyssop,  and  scarlet  into  the  fire  in  which  the  heifer  is 
being  consumed.  He  then  must  purify  himself,  and  a 
clean  man  gathers  up  the  ashes  “  for  a  water  of  separation, 
as  “a  purification  for  sin.”  When  any  of  the  people 

1  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Rel 79,  note  2. 

2  Pel  Sem .,  180  ;  Jewish  Encycl. ,  i,  217. 

3  Maury,  La  Magie ,  264.  1  xix,  1  ff. 


lvi 


ASHES  IN  MAGIC. 


became  unclean  through  a  death  in  a  tent,  the  method  of 
cleansing  was  to  take  some  of  these  ashes  and  mix  them 
with  running  water  in  a  vessel.  A  clean  man  was  then 
to  take  hyssop,  dip  in  this  water,  and  sprinkle  it  on  the 
tent,  the  vessels  therein,  and  the  persons  who  had  become 
unclean  by  reason  of  the  corpse. 

Sale 1  points  out  the  similarity  of  this  story  of  the  red 
heifer  with  an  Arab  parallel  of  a  cow-calf  left  by  a  father 
to  his  son.  His  mother  told  him  to  sell  the  calf  for  three 
pieces  of  gold ;  an  angel  accosted  him  on  the  way  to 
market,  and  offered  six  pieces,  but  the  son  declined  to 
sell  until  his  mother  consented.  He  therefore  returned 
home,  obtained  his  mother’s  permission,  and  again  met 
the  angel,  who  this  time  offered  him  twice  as  much, 
provided  that  he  would  say  nothing  of  it  to  his  mother. 
The  young  man,  however,  did  not  agree,  and  his  mother 
perceived  that  it  was  an  angel  that  had  spoken.  The 
angel  then  declared  that  the  Israelites  would  at  some  time 
buy  that  heifer  at  any  price.  Shortly  afterwards  a  murder 
was  committed  and,  in  the  absence  of  evidence  as  to  the 
criminal,  God  commanded  that  a  cow  with  such  and  such 
marks  should  be  killed,  and  this  applied  only  to  the  heifer 
in  question.  The  Israelites  were  obliged  to  buy  her  at 
as  much  gold  as  her  hide  would  hold,  a  tradition  similar 
to  that  contained  in  the  history  of  the  word  (3vpcra ;  and 
then  they  sacrificed  the  heifer,  and,  by  divine  direction, 
struck  the  dead  body  with  part  of  it.  The  corpse  revived, 
accused  the  murderer  by  name,  and  then  fell  back  dead.2 

1  Koran ,  Surah  ii. 

2  On  the  ideas  of  blood  breaking  forth  from  a  corpse  at  the  presence 
of  the  murderer,  and  on  the  use  of  blood  to  determine  correct  ancestry 
(by  its  absorption  into  bones),  see  Kohut,  J.A.O.S.,  xxiv,  129. 


FUMIGATION  IN  MAGIC.  lvii 

Besides  cleansing  by  water,  fumigation  with  a  censer 
was  also  employed  by  the  Assyrians,  just  as  it  is  by  the 
modern  Arabs,  and  the  cuneiform  texts  prescribe  that 
a  censer  and  a  lighted  match  be  added  to  the  wizard’s 
ceremony.  There  was  also  a  method  of  safeguarding  the 
sick  man  from  the  onset  of  fiends  by  placing  him  in  the 
middle  of  an  enchanted  circle  of  flour  or  other  crushed 
material  as  a  kind  of  haram  through  which  no  spirit  could 
break.  The  ‘  atonement  ’  ceremony  complete,  the  warlock 
fumigates  the  patient,  throwing  the  ‘  atonement  ’  (in 
this  case  a  kid)  into  the  street,  and  then  surrounding  the 
man  with  a  magic  circle  of  flour.1  In  the  story  of  Tobit, 
Azarias  speaks  thus  of  the  fish  which  had  leapt  out  of 
the  Tigris :  “  Touching  the  heart  and  the  liver,  if  a  devil 
or  an  evil  spirit  trouble  any,  we  must  make  a  smoke 
thereof  before  the  man  or  the  woman,  and  the  party  shall 
be  no  more  vexed”  ; 2  and  ultimately  Tobias,  on  his  wedding- 
night,  takes  the  ashes  of  perfumes  and  puts  the  heart  and 
liver  of  the  fish  thereon  and  drives  away  the  evil  spirit 
which  is  afflicting  Sarah,  the  bride,  into  Egypt,  where  the 
angel  binds  him.3  There  is  an  echo  of  this  legend  in 
a  Macedonian  charm  for  one  possessed  by  demons.  The 
sufferer  is  to  wear  the  glands  from  the  mouth  of  a  fish, 
and  be  fumigated  with  them,  “  and  the  demons  will  flee 
from  him.” 4  Among  the  Malays  there  is  a  custom  of 
averting  the  evil  consequences  of  what  is  called  “  insulting 

1  Devils ,  ii,  35,  which  should  probably  be  translated  thus,  and  not 
as  I  have  given  it  there  ;  cf.  also  Haupt,  A.S.K.T.,  11,  ii :  “Enclose 
the  man  with  kusurra  (flour),  flour  of  lime,  surround  the  shut  gate 
right  and  left.  The  ban  is  loosed,  and  all  evil  is  dissipated.” 

2  Tobit  vi,  7. 

3  Tobit  viii,  2,  3. 

4  Abbott,  Macedonian  Folklore ,  232. 


lviii 


THE  MAGIC  CIRCLE. 


the  night,”  that  is,  if  a  guest  should  not  have  remained 
more  than  two  nights,  hut  should  have  been  suffered  to 
go  away  before  fulfilling  the  three  nights  demanded  by 
custom.  The  receipt  runs :  “  Take  assafcetida,  sulphur, 

kunyit  t’rus  (an  evil-smelling  root),  onion  skins,  dried 
areca-nut  husk,  lemon-grass  leaves,  and  an  old  mat  or 
cloth,  burn  them,  and  leave  the  ashes  for  about  an  hour 
at  sunset  on  the  floor  of  the  passage  in  front  of  the  door.”  1 

The  use  of  a  censer  to  fumigate  the  man  would  appear 
to  have  its  origin  in  fire-purification,  although  there  is  the 
second  possibility  that  it  is  the  evil  stench  which  drives  the 
demon  away.  The  live  coal  borne  by  the  seraph  to  touch 
Isaiah’s  mouth  to  take  away  uncleanness2  is  paralleled  in 
the  law  of  Numbers,3  which  directs  that  gold,  silver,  brass, 
iron,  tin,  lead,  and  anything  that  will  stand  fire  is  to  be 
first  passed  through  the  flame  and  then  cleansed  with  the 
“  water  of  separation,”  that  it  may  be  clean.4 

To  return  to  the  magic  circle  which  has  already  been 
mentioned.  The  Assyrian  sorcerer  is  advised  to  make 
seven  little  winged  figures  to  set  before  the  god  Nergal, 
with  the  following  spell : — 

“  I  have  spread  a  dark  dress  on  their  upraised  arms, 

I  have  bound  their  arms  with  a  coloured  cord,  setting  (thereby) 
tamarisk  ( eru )  (and)  the  heart  of  the  palm  ; 

I  have  completed  the  usurtu  (magic  circle),  with  a  sprinkling  of  lime 
have  I  surrounded  them, 

1  Skeat,  Malay  Magic ,  351. 

2  vi,  6. 

3  xxxi,  22,  23. 

4  I  have  seen  an  Arab  ibex  hunter  in  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula,  after 
we  had  had  no  luck  for  several  days,  fire  one  of  the  thorn  bushes  of 
the  desert  and  jump  over  it  as  it  blazed,  presumably  to  cut  off  the 
bad  fortune  dogging  his  steps  (Man,  June,  1905).  There  are  several 
instances  in  Frazer’s  Golden  Bough ,  iii,  273. 


THE  MAGIC  CIRCLE. 


lix 


The  flour  of  Nisaba  (the  corn-god),  the  ban  of  the  great  gods,  I  have 
set  around  them, 

At  the  head  of  these  seven  with  fearful  wings  I  have  set  a  figure 
of  Nergal, 

I  have  placed  Nuzku  (the  fire-god)  at  their  head  in  the  brazier, 

I  have  set  two  twin  figures  .  .  .  (?) 1  complete  in  form,  to  whelm 
the  evil  devil,  at  the  head  of  the  sick  man  right  and  left, 

I  have  set  a  figure  of  Lugalgirra,  that  hath  no  rival,  in  the  founda¬ 
tions  (?) 2  of  the  house, 

v 

A  figure  of  Sitlamtaea,  that  hath  no  rival, 

I  have  set  a  figure  of  Narudu,  the  sister  of  the  great  gods,  below 
the  bed, 

That  no  evil  may  draw  nigh,  I  have  set  Amel-dispu  and  Latarag  at 
the  door, 

I  have  set  a  hulduppu  at  the  door  to  drive  away  all  evil, 

Twin  warriors  of  lime  I  have  fastened  within  the  door, 

Twin  warriors  .  .  .  (?) 3  of  bitumen  on  the  threshold  of  the  door 
right  and  left  I  have  set, 

Two  guardian  figures  of  Ea  and  Marduk  I  have  set  within  the  door 
right  and  left ; 

The  Incantation  is  the  Incantation  of  Marduk,  the  magician  is  the 
figure  of  Marduk, 

N.,  son  of  1ST.,  whose  god  is  N.,  whose  goddess  is  N.,  in  whose  body 
the  sickness  lieth, 

Perform  for  him  the  incantation  when  the  cattle  come  home,  when 
the  cattle  go  out, 

0  ye  pure  offspring  of  the  Deep,  ye  sons  of  Ea, 

Eat  what  is  good,  drink  what  is  sweet,  that  nothing  evil  draw  nigh 
against  your  watching.”  4 

In  India  the  magic  circle  is  represented  by  a  rampart 
of  black  pebbles,  with  which  the  magician  surrounds  the 

1  Kissuruti. 

2  Rikis . 

v 

3  Sa  umasi. 

4  Zimmern,  Ritualtafeln ,  168,  11.  2  ff.  See  also  the  chapter  on 
Demoniac  Possession  and  Tabu  for  another  instance  of  the  magic  circle 
(p.  123). 


lx 


THE  MAGIC  CIRCLE. 


bed  of  the  woman  at  childbirth  to  ward  off  the  approach 
of  demons.1 

This  magic  circle,  as  a  protection  for  the  magician,  was 
always  used  in  mediaeval  magic,  and  it  is  quite  clear  that 
we  have  a  prototype  of  it  in  this  Assyrian  wizardry.  The 
use  of  such  an  enclosure  is  given  in  Francis  Barrett’s 
Magus,2  where  directions  may  be  found  for  calling  spirits 
into  it.  The  ‘  blessing  ’  for  a  protective  circle  is  as 
follows  : — “  In  the  name  of  the  holy,  blessed,  and  glorious 
Trinity,  proceed  we  to  our  work  in  these  mysteries  to 
accomplish  that  which  we  desire ;  we  therefore,  in  the 
names  aforesaid,  consecrate  this  piece  of  ground  for  our 
defence,  so  that  no  spirit  whatsoever  shall  be  able  to  break 
these  boundaries,  neither  be  able  to  cause  injury  nor 
detriment  to  any  of  us  here  assembled  ;  but  that  they  may 
be  compelled  to  stand  before  this  circle,  and  answer  truly 
our  demands.”  For  such  as  care  to  know  the  ‘  theories  ’ 
about  the  magic  circle  in  latter-day  *  magic,’  Mathers,  in 
his  Introduction  to  the  Book  of  Sacred  Magic  of  Abramelin ,3 
says  it  is  true  that  in  the  Convocation  of  the  Spirits  as 
laid  down  by  the  author,  it  is  not  necessary  to  form  a  Magic 
Circle  for  defence  and  protection.  He  suggests,  however, 
that  the  “  Licence  to  Depart  ”  should  not  be  omitted, 
“  because  the  Evil  Forces  will  be  only  too  glad  to  revenge 
themselves  on  the  Operator  for  having  disturbed  them, 
should  he  incautiously  quit  the  Circle  without  having 
previously  sent  them  away.” 

Armed  with  all  these  things  —  the  word  of  power,  the 
acquisition  of  some  part  of  the  enemy,  the  use  of  the 

1  Victor  Henry,  La  Magie  dans  VInde  Antique ,  1904,  142. 

2  1801,  99  ff. 

3  1458,  ed.  1898,  xxxvii. 


AMULETS. 


lxi 


magic  circle  and  holy  water,  and  the  knowledge  of  the 
magical  properties  of  substances — the  ancient  warlock  was 
well  fitted  for  his  trade.  He  was  then  capable  of  defying 
hostile  demons  or  summoning  friendly  spirits,  of  driving 
out  disease  or  casting  spells,  of  making  amulets  to  guard 
the  credulous  who  came  to  him.  Furthermore,  he  had 
a  certain  stock-in-trade  of  tricks  which  were  a  steady 
source  of  revenue.  Lovesick  youths  and  maidens  always 
hoped  for  some  result  from  his  philtres  or  love-charms ; 
at  the  demand  of  jealousy,  he  was  ever  ready  to  put  hatred 
between  husband  and  wife;  and  for  such  as  had  not  the 
pluck  or  skill  even  to  use  a  dagger  on  a  dark  night,  his 
little  effigies,  pierced  with  pins,  would  bring  death  to 
a  rival.  He  was  at  once  a  physician  and  wonder-worker 
for  such  as  would  pay  him  fee. 

To  wear  amulets  on  the  person  has  always  appealed  to 
the  savage  mind,  and  the  word  ‘  phylactery  ’  exactly  expresses 
their  use.  From  the  blue  beads  plaited  into  horses’  manes 
and  tails,  or  sewn  into  children’s  skull  caps,  up  to  the 
elaborate  skin  purses  containing  long  charms  written  out 
by  the  bazar-scribe,  they  remain  as  much  a  perpetual  charm 
to  the  Semites  as  the  cross  is  to  Christians.  Further¬ 
more,  in  the  case  of  sickness,  magic  names  endued  with 
power  can  be  written  on  parchment  and  steeped  in  water, 
which  the  patient  must  drink  to  be  healed.  “At  el-Hejr 
the  gate  Arabs  demanded  of  me  hijabs  or  amulets  ;  such 
papers,  written  with  the  names  of  Ullah,  they  would  steep 
in  water  and  think  themselves  happy  when  they  had  drunk 
it  down.” 1  To  drink  the  ink  in  which  magical  names 
have  been  written  is  so  well  known  that  few  examples  need 

1  Doughty,  Arabia  Deserta ,  i,  155. 


lxii 


AMULETS. 


be  quoted.  A  late  Hebrew  grimoire  prescribes  a  talisman 
to  be  washed  off  and  drunk  by  one  who  has  been  bitten 
by  a  mad  dog  1 ;  for  love,  that  certain  ‘  seals  ’  be  written 
and  put  into  a  vessel  of  water  from  which  the  youth 
drinks,  “  and  he  will  love  thee  with  a  strong  love.”  2 
The  *  hand  ’  is  a  favourite  hijab  (amulet)  worn  by 
Arabs  and  Persians.  It  is  so  curiously  similar  to  the 
thunderbolt  of  Adad,  worn  in  the  necklet  of  the  Assyrian 
kings  along  with  the  emblems  for  the  sun,  the  moon,  and 
Venus,  that  it  may  be  a  survival.  When  at  Tak-i-Bustan 
in  Persia,  I  noticed  a  small  boy  wearing  a  silver  circlet 
round  his  neck,  on  which  were  strung  two  hands  of 
this  kind  and  the  figure  of  the  new  moon.  The  whole 
was  strikingly  similar  to  that  figured  on  the  Ninevite 
sculptures.3 

Jastrow  [Religion,  German  edition,  p.  339)  points  out 
that  the  Assyrian  amulet  given  in  Myhrman,  Labartu  iff, 
46-7,  is  to  be  compared  to  the  Hebrew  Sabriri ,  beriri,  riri, 
tv i,  ri ,  etc.  ( Abodali  Zarah,  12,  b).  The  Assyrian  runs — 

Ki 

ris-ti  li-bi-ki 
ris-ti  la  li-bi-ki 
la  li-bi 
pis 

pis-ti  sa  an-zi-is-ti 
sa  an-zi-U 
su  an-zi-is 
an-zi-is. 


1  Folklore  of  Mossoul,  P.S.B.A.,  December,  1907,  327,  No.  66. 

2  Ibid.,  November,  1907,  287,  No.  57. 

3  Of.  Martin  Del  Rio,  Disquisitiones ,  bk.  i,  59  :  “  Hue  referendum, 
si  figuram  attendunt,  quod  Hispanicis  pueris  ex  Gagate  ad  collum 
deligant,  manu  in  derisum  inserto  intra  digitos  primores  pollice  con- 
formata,  Higam  vocant.”  This  was  probably  due  to  Moorish  influence. 


CORNELIANS  AS  AMULETS. 


lxiii 


S.  504  is  an  incantation  of  the  same  kind — 

V 

SiptU.  KI-KI-KI . 

ZU-ZU-ZU . 

KA-KA-KA-KA . 

EN-EN-EN-EN-EN-EN-EN  .... 

BUR-BUR-BUR-BUR . 

It  is  not  infrequent  to  find  that  a  natural  desire  to 
calculate  the  efficacy  of  amulets  leads  to  tests  such  as 
ai  tificers  will  subject  their  armour-plate  to.  The  Magharby 
of  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula  make  an  amulet  of  a  strip 
of  parchment,  the  same  length  as  the  man  for  whose 
protection  it  is  intended,  and  covered  with  writing.  It 
is  then  fastened  on  an  animal  as  a  trial  of  its  potency, 
and  a  bullet  fired  at  it.  If  the  animal  escapes,  the  charm 
has  proved  its  worth,  and  can  be  trusted  against  anything 
but  a  silver  bullet,  against  which  no  amulet  is  known.1 2 
I  heard  of  similar  tests  in  Mosul,  the  writing  being  tied 
to  a  fowl,  and  the  fowl  shot  at.^  Judging  by  the  average 
Arab  markmanship  with  a  revolver  (or  rifle,  for  that 
matter,  unless  fired  from  a  rest),  the  amulet  should  prove 
satisfactory  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten. 

In  Egypt  and  the  Soudan,  and  probably  still  further 
eastward,  small  pierced  cornelians  in  the  shape  of  arrow¬ 
heads  are  worn  threaded  on  necklets.  I  believe  that  this 
is  a  superstition  that  can  be  traced  to  the  Assyrian  medical 
texts.  In  these  latter  incantations  there  are  directions 
given  for  threading  certain  stones  on  hair  to  be  worn  by 
the  patient  who  is  apparently  suffering  from  rheumatism. 
The  name  of  these  signifies  ‘  wheat-stones/  and  they 

1  W.  E.  Jennings-Bramley,  P.E.F. ,  1906,  198. 

2  Folklore  of  Mossoul,  P.S.B.A.,  1906,  81. 


lxiv 


LOVE  CHARMS. 


are  further  described  in  a  historical  inscription  as  “  wheat- 
stones,  whereof  the  shape  is  fashioned  as  the  seeds  of 
cucumbers,  such  as  are  held  in  price  for  necklets,  a  stone 
that  grariteth  (?)  the  obtaining  of  favour  and  confidence, 
that  no  sickness  draw  near  to  man.”  The  comparison  with 
corn  and  seeds  of  cucumber  is  too  obvious  to  be  missed.1 
The  Assyrian  prescription  runs — “Spin  together  hair  from 
a  dog  and  hair  from  a  lion  (and)  thread  three  cornelians 
(thereon),  [bind  it  on,  and  he  shall  recover].” 

Love-philtres  and  charms  for  hatred  are  frequent  in 
the  magical  books.  Even  the  staid  historian  Josephus 
relates  a  story  of  a  love-potion.2  And  to  go  back  still 
further,  the  mandrakes  of  Genesis3  were  to  have  the  same 
effect.  In  later  Eastern  magic,  love-charms  are  made  of 
the  brain  of  the  hoopoe  pounded  up  and  administered  in 
a  cake  with  proper  ceremony,4  or  of  magic  wicks  inscribed 
with  invocations  and  burnt  in  a  lamp.5  The  bones  of  a 
frog,  buried  for  seven  days  and  then  exhumed,  would,  if 
cast  into  water,  automatically  show  themselves  good  for 
either  love  or  hatred  ;  if  they  sank,  they  would  form  the 
base  of  a  charm  for  hate,  but  if  they  floated  they  were 


1  See  my  article,  P.S.B.A.,  February,  1908.  In  this  text  is  a  case  of 
the  Assyrian  physician  burning  his  patient  on  the  affected  place,  just 
as  his  modern  Arab  descendant  does.  “  Hold  the  flesh  of  his  loins  in 
the  flame  of  a  torch  ”  are  the  directions  followed  by  the  barbarian  of 
the  present  day. 

Jewish  War,  i,  xxx,  §  1.  Compare  the  discussions  in  Sprenger. 
Malleus  Malejicarum ,  1580  :  u  An  malefici  mentes  hominum  ad 
amorem,  vel  odium  valeant  immutare  ”  (p.  98)  ;  “  An  generativam 
potentiam  seu  actum  Venereum  malefici  impedire  possunt  quod  Male- 
ficium  in  bulla  continetur,J  (p.  114). 

3  xxx,  14. 

4  Folklore  of  Mossoul,  P.S.B.A. ,  November,  1907,  285,  No.  41. 

6  Ibid.,  December,  1907,  330,  No.  92. 


HATE  CHARMS. 


lxv 


to  aid  lovers.1  Charms,  too,  were  made  for  the  girls  who 
were  not  sought  in  marriage,2  for  the  love  of  disdainful 
women,3  and,  still  more  diplomatic  of  all,  “for  love,  when 
thou  wishest  that  a  woman  should  come  after  thee,  and 
thou  shouldst  please  her  father  and  mother.”4 

In  the  Syriac  Paradise  of  the  Holy  Fathers 5  there  is 
a  story  told  of  an  Egyptian  who  had  fallen  in  love  with 
another  man’s  wife,  and,  his  suit  being  unavailing,  he  has 
recourse  to  a  magician  to  make  the  woman  love  him  or 
the  husband  hate  her.  The  magician  transforms  the  wife 
into  a  mare,  which  causes  complications  in  the  household, 
and  finally  she  is  restored  to  her  former  shape  by  the 
holy  man  Macarius,  who  takes  water,  blesses  it,  and  throws 
it  over  her  head. 

Another  demand  which  sorcery  supplied  was  to  put 
hatred  between  the  members  of  a  family.  This  is 
mentioned  in  the  Koran,6  which  says  that  men  learnt 
from  Harut  and  Marut  a  charm  by  which  they  might 
cause  division  between  a  man  and  his  wife ;  “  but  they 
hurt  none  thereby  unless  by  God’s  permission.”  In  later 
Hebrew  magic  the  result  was  attained  if  the  egg  of 
a  black  hen  boiled  in  urine  were  given  half  to  a  dog  and 
half  to  a  cat,  with  the  charm  “  As  these  hate  one  another, 
so  may  hatred  fall  between  N.  and  N.” 7  The  hatred 
between  cat  and  dog  is  an  old  legend  in  Palestine.  Once 
upon  a  time,  when  the  world  was  young,  to  each  and 

1  Folklore  of  Mossoul ,  P  S.B.A.,  November,  1907,  287,  No.  59. 

2  Ibid.,  No.  56.  3  Ibid.,  December,  1907,  329,  Nos.  83,  84. 

4  Ibid.,  November,  1907,  286,  No.  43. 

5  Ed.  Budge,  1907,  i,  115.  6  Surah  ii. 

7  Folklore  of  Mossoul ,  P.S.B.A. ,  November,  1907,  287,  No.  60. 
There  is  a  Syriac  charm  for  “reconciliation  in  the  household”  given 
in  Gollancz,  Selection  of  Charms ,  94. 


lxvi 


CHARMS  TO  ESCAPE  FROM  PRISON. 


every  kind  of  animal  a  duty  was  assigned.  The  dog  and 
the  cat  were  relieved  from  menial  duty,  because  of  the 
faithfulness  of  the  one  and  the  cleanliness  of  the  other, 
and  a  written  document  was  given  them  in  attestation 
thereof,  and  the  dog  took  charge  of  it.  He  buried  it 
where  he  kept  his  stock  of  old  bones,  but  this  privilege 
of  exemption  so  roused  the  envy  of  the  horse,  ass,  and 
ox  that  they  bribed  the  rat  to  burrow  underground  and 
destroy  the  charter.  Since  the  loss  of  this  document  the 
dog  has  been  liable,  on  account  of  his  carelessness,  to 
be  tied  or  chained  up  by  his  master,  and  what  is  more, 
the  cat  has  never  forgiven  him.1 

Escape  from  prison  was  to  be  obtained  from  charms. 
In  Ethiopic  legend  a  certain  man  who  lay  bound  in  prison 
for  the  sake  of  Christ  appealed  to  the  Virgin,  and  she 
appeared  in  the  form  of  a  bird  and  flew  out  of  the  prison 
with  him.2  This  was  doubtless  modelled  on  the  story  in 
the  Hew  Testament  of  Peter’s  release  from  gaol.3  In 
later  magic,  the  prisoner  must  get  hold  of  three  fresh 
eggs  laid  that  day,  boil  them  hard,  shell  them,  and  write 
on  each  three  magic  words  and  eat  the  eggs,  “  and  he  shall 
go  forth  by  God’s  help.”  4 

To  be  invisible  was  another  attainment  also  to  be  sought 
after.  From  directions  in  the  late  Hebrew  MSS.,  a  ring 
of  copper  and  iron  engraved  with  certain  magic  signs 
and  worn  on  the  person  would  secure  this  result ;  or  the 
heart  of  a  black  cat  dried  and  steeped  in  honey,  and  worn 
either  at  the  beginning  of  the  month  or  with  the  waning 

1  Hanauer,  Palestinian  Animal  Folklore ,  P.E.F. ,  1904,  265. 

2  Budge,  Lives  of  Mabd  Seyon  and  Gabra  Krestos ,  lxxi. 

3  Acts  xii,  7  ff. 

4  Folklore  of  Mossoid,  P.S.B.A.,  December,  1907,  327,  No.  68. 


CHARMS  TO  DRY  UP  WATER. 


lxvii 


moon.1  In  the  Greek  papyrus  published  by  Leemans,2 
if  a  man  take  a  hawk’s  egg  and  gild  one-half,  and  smear 
the  other  half  with  cinnabar,  he  will  be  invisible  if  he 
carry  this  with  him  and  pronounce  the  magic  word  over  it. 
Just  as  we  find  charms  for  sowing  dissension  in  the  family 
circle,  which  is  accounted  a  breach  of  tabu  in  the  Surpu 
list,  so  also  to  tamper  with  a  neighbour’s  water-channels 
(a  serious  misdeed  in  a  hot  country,  and  one  reckoned  as 
tabu  also  by  the  Assyrians)  can  be  effected  by  magic. 
These  charms  are  an  indirect  source  for  increasing  our 
knowledge  of  tabu,  and  for  this  reason,  if  for  none  other, 
they  are  well  worth  the  trouble  of  collecting.  Reinaud 
describes  an  Arabic  talismanic  plaque  meant  to  make 
water  disappear  from  a  cistern  or  well.  Ibn  Khaldun 
refers  to  this  practice,  saying  that  in  Africa  people  who 
wish  to  obtain  this  result  use  the  figure  of  a  man  drawing 
a  bucket  with  a  cord  in  his  hands  from  the  bottom  of 
a  well.  On  his  chest  the  letter  *  is  marked  three  times, 
and  \s  between  the  legs,  which,  as  Reinaud  remarks,  is 
exactly  what  occurs  on  the  plaque.  Ibn  Khaldun  adds 
that  a  bird  must  be  sacrificed  and  the  talisman  rubbed 
with  the  blood ;  then  sandarach,  incense,  and  myrrh  must 
be  burnt  to  fumigate  it.  After  this  it  should  be  covered 
with  silk  bound  with  two  woollen  threads,  the  auspicious 
moment  for  doing  all  this  being  when  Leo  rises  on  the 
horizon.3  The  mixture  of  silk  and  woollen  threads  is  a  con¬ 
firmation  of  the  theory  that  the  Levitical  law 4  “  neither 
shall  a  garment  mingled  of  linen  and  woollen  come  upon 

1  Folklore  of  Mossoul,  P.S.B.A.,  November,  1907,  286,  Nos.  47  and  49. 

2  Papyri  Greed,  98. 

3  Reinaud,  Monumens  Mussulmans  du  Due  de  Blacas,  ii,  334. 

4  xix,  19. 


SUMMARY. 


lxviii 

thee  ”  is  due  to  an  aversion  to  magic.  A  Hebrew  charm 
i(  to  dry  up  a  river  ”  is  to  write  a  magical  name  on  a  stone 
from  the  same  water  on  the  Sabbath,  and  cast  it  into  the 
stream.1  Many  such  charms  are  to  be  found  in  the  Sepher 
Raziel  and  the  Sword  of  Moses :  The  former  contains 
methods  for  turning  the  heart  of  a  woman,  putting  love 
between  husband  and  wife,  filling  the  house  with  smoke 
and  fire,  and  many  other  receipts  of  the  same  nature. 

Enough  has  been  said,  however,  on  the  magicians  and 
their  literature  and  powers.  Their  warfare  against  the 
goblins  and  ghosts  demanded  a  knowledge  of  certain 
prescribed  rules  which  made  their  magic  effectual  when 
properly  performed.  Their  personal  risk  from  demoniac 
attacks  was  small,  and  in  many  cases  the  magic  circle 
was  a  safeguard,  although  it  seems  to  have  been  used 
more  to  protect  the  sick  man  in  early  times  than  the 
priest.  But  provided  that  they  knew  the  proper  word  of 
power,  displayed  an  ostentatious  knowledge  of  their  ghostly 
assailant,  nothing  further  was  wanting  to  a  successful  issue 
than  some  concrete  charm  as  an  effective  aid  to  the 
demon’s  expulsion. 

Folklore  of  Mossoul,  P.S.B.A. ,  December,  1907,  327,  No.  73. 


i 


I. 


THE  DEMONS  AND  GHOSTS. 


Throughout  the  Near  East,  from  prehistoric  times  down  to 
the  present  day,  the  inhabitants  have  been  firmly  convinced 
that  supernatural  beings,  to  use  a  general  expression,  are 
capable  of  inflicting  grievous  hurt  upon  them,  and  that 
the  maladies  and  bodily  ills  to  which  they  are  subject  are 
directly  due  to  this  baneful  power.  The  modern  natives 
of  Irak,  Syria,  and  Barbary  have  inherited  from  their 
forebears  a  legacy  of  superstitions  and  beliefs  which  show 
little  variation  from  their  pristine  simplicity,  and  throw 
new  light  on  many  ancient  Semitic  ideas.  Although  in 
most  instances  the  specific  names  for  the  demons  of  one 
Semitic  dialect  have  no  etymological  connection  with 
those  of  another  (and  the  few  cases  in  Hebrew  and 
Syriac  which  are  in  opposition  to  this  statement  seem 
to  have  been  borrowed  at  a  comparatively  late  period) 
the  ideas  which  are  still  current  show  us  that  the  more 
ancient  forms  of  hobgoblins,  vampires,  spooks,  and  devils 
exist  under  various  titles  1  with  the  several  attributes  that 
were  assigned  to  them  by  the  Babylonians,  who  cultivated 
one  of  the  most  elaborate  and  intricate  systems  of  ancient 
magic  that  we  know.  In  making  an  examination  into  the 
ancient  witchcraft  we  shall  therefore  avail  ourselves  of 

1  For  the  names  of  demons  in  late  Hebrew  see  Schwab,  Vocabulaire 
de  V Angelologie,  and  the  lists  in  The  Book  of  Sacred  Magic ,  ed.  Mathers  ; 
in  Egyptian,  Wiedemann,  Der  Gotter-  und  Daemonennamen ;  in  Greek, 
Leemans,  Papyri  Grceci  ;  Dieterich,  Papyrus  Magica  ;  Legge,  P.S.L-A ., 
Feb.  1901,  41. 


2 


CLASSES  OF  SPIRITS. 


as  much  of  modern  folklore  as  may  serve  to  elucidate  the 
older  superstitions,  and  by  a  comparison  of  the  magic  of 
the  ancients  with  that  of  their  descendants  try  to  obtain 
some  glimpse  of  the  beliefs  of  the  primitive  Semite. 

It  will  be  admitted  readily  that,  when  once  a  system 
of  demonology  has  been  evolved,  at  least  three  classes  of 
spirits  must  be  recognized.  The  simplest  and  most  universal 
form  of  these  was  the  disembodied  spirit,  the  souls  of  men 
or  women  who,  having  died,  had  changed  their  earthly 
shape  for  an  incorporeal  one.  Second  to  this  comes  the 
supernatural  being  who  never  was  earthly,  a  phantom  or 
demon,  often  of  such  grotesque  or  horrid  shape  as  savage 
imagination  might  invent.  Lastly,  we  have  a  class  of 
demons  half-ghostly,  half-human,  the  offspring  of  inter¬ 
marriage  between  human  beings  and  the  spirit  world, 
just  as  we  find  demigods  of  half  divine  origin  in  all 
mythologies.  Taking  each  of  these  classes  in  turn,  we 
shall  be  able,  by  a  comparison  of  the  different  ideas 
prevailing  among  the  Semitic  and  other  peoples  of  the 
East,  to  form  some  substantial  basis  for  a  critical  insight 
into  this  phase  of  theology.  Inasmuch  as  the  Assyrian 
incantations  show  a  systematized  demonology,  which  is  at 
the  same  time  the  earliest  at  our  disposal,  the  several 
Assyrian  names  for  devils  form  an  excellent  starting- 
point  in  the  various  species. 

The  first  class,  then,  is  that  of  the  disembodied  spirit. 
The  main  idea  concerning  this  ghost  is  that  it  returns  to 
this  world  from  the  place  of  the  departed  spirits,  making 
its  presence  observed  either  by  a  visible  appearance  as  it 
was  in  the  flesh,  or  by  making  an  unseen  attack  on 
some  man  so  that  he  is  stricken  down  by  disease.  The 
reasons  for  its  restlessness  are  many :  the  soul  finds 


GHOSTS. 


3 


no  peace  if  its  corporeal  shape  is  unburied,  or  if  its 
descendants  cease  to  feed  it  by  paying  it  its  due  rites, 
libations,  or  sacrifices,  or  for  a  hundred  other  causes 
which  are  frequently  set  forth  at  length  in  the  cuneiform 
incantations.  Among  the  Assyrians  the  word  used  for 
this  ghost  was  edimmu,1  and  like  other  nations  they 
believed  that  the  soul  could  return  to  earth,  and  to  these 
ghosts  they  ascribed  many  of  their*  bodily  ills.  In  ordinary 
circumstances,  when  a  person  died  and  was  duly  buried 
his  soul  entered  the  underworld,  “  the  House  of  Darkness, 
the  seat  of  the  god  Irkalla,  the  house  from  which  none 
that  enter  come  forth  again/ ’ 2  where  it  was  compelled 
to  feed  on  dust  and  mud.  Of  Sheol  among  the  Hebrews, 
according  to  the  most  primitive  beliefs,  we  have  very 
little  direct  knowledge.  In  historic  times  its  principal 
characteristic  is  darkness,3  the  word  for  ‘  dust  ’  being 
used  as  a  synonym.4  It  was  under  the  earth,5  and  was 
described  as  a  place  from  which  one  did  not  return,6 
and,  as  in  the  Assyrian  picture  in  the  Descent  of  Ishtar, 
it  is  portrayed  as  a  city  with  gates.7  The  dead  would 


1  The  two  texts  published  by  L.  W.  King  ( C.T .  iii,  2-4,  and  v,  4-7) 
and  translated  by  Hunger  ( Becherwahrsagung  bei  den  Babyloniern , 
1903)  show,  as  Hunger  points  out  (p.  32),  that  we  must  read  edimmu , 
and  not  ekimmu.  The  variants  e-di-im-mi  and  e-te-im-mi-im  leave  no 
manner  of  doubt  that  ekimmu  is  wrong.  I  had  hitherto  thought  that 
it  meant  the  ‘  thing  snatched  away  ’  ( Devils ,  i,  xxii),  as  it  has  always 
been  referred  to  the  root  ek&mu,  ‘to  rob,’  although  with  what  is 
probably  an  impossible  translation  (having  regard  to  the  form),  ‘the 
seizer.  ’ 

2  See  Jeremias,  Vorstellungen  vom  Leben  nach  dem  Tode ,  59  ff.  In 
W.A.I.,  iv,  27,  1-3,  it  is  Tammuz,  the  husband  of  Ishtar,  who  is 
described  as  Kuler  of  Hades. 

3  Job  x,  21.  4  Job  xvii,  16. 

G  Job  vii,  10.  7  Isa.  xxxviii,  10,  etc. 


5  Job  xi,  8. 


4 


RABBINIC  BELIEFS. 


be  known  by  tbeir  dress — tbe  old  man  by  his  robe,1  the 
soldier  by  his  sword.2  But  Sheol  is  independent  of 
Yahweh  in  early  times,  and  there  is  little  change  down  to 
the  fourth  century  b.c.  In  the  primitive  belief,  when 
a  man  dies  he  is  removed  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
Yahweh,3  and  there  are  no  more  relations  between  them.4 

The  Rabbis  believed  that  there  was  “  a  place  called 
mb  which  derives  its  name  from  the  fact  that  it  is 

assigned  to  the  departed  spirits  of  men.  It  represents 
a  building  with  a  courtyard,  encircled  by  a  fence.  Before 
the  courtyard  flows  a  river,  adjoining  which  is  a  field. 
Every  day  Dumah  leads  out  the  spirits  to  pasture  in  the 

field  and  to  drink  of  the  river.”  5  The  Kabbalists  believed 

* 

in  metempsychosis  from  the  body  of  one  species  into  the 
body  of  another  species.  Some  of  the  later  sages  of  the 
„  Kabbala  say  that  the  soul  of  an  unclean  person  will 
transmigrate  into  an  unclean  animal,  or  into  creeping 
things  or  reptiles.  For  one  form  of  uncleanness,  the 
soul  will  be  invested  with  the  body  of  a  Gentile,  who 
will  become  a  proselyte  ;  for  another,  the  soul  will  pass 
into  the  body  of  a  mule  ;  for  others,  it  transmigrates 
-^into  an  ass,  a  woman  of  Ashdod,  a  bat,  a  rabbit  or 
a  hare,  a  she-mule  or  a  camel.  Ishmael  transmigrated 
first  into  the  she-ass  of  Balaam,  and  subsequently  into 
the  ass  of  Rabbi  Pinchas  ben  Yair.6 

1  1  Sam.  xxviii,  14.  2  Ezek.  xxxii,  27  ;  cf.  also  Isa.  xiv. 

3  Ps.  lxxxviii,  5. 

4  Isa.  xxxviii,  18.  These  passages  have  been  taken  from  the  articles 

in  the  Encyclopaedia  Biblica ,  sub  Dead ,  Eschatology ,  and  Sheol. 

5  Bender,  J.Q. ,  vi,  338,  quoting  Mid.  Khillim  (ed.  Buber,  51,  b). 

6  Nishmath  Charin ,  xiii,  No.  14,  quoted  Hershon,  Talm.  Misc .,  326. 
For  further  reference  to  this  subject,  see  Hershon,  loc.  cit.,  and  Franck, 
La  Kabbale ,  chap.  v. 


MOHAMMEDAN  BELIEFS. 


5 


According  to  Sale,  the  Mohammedans  have  various 
beliefs  concerning  the  future  destination  of  the  souls  of 
the  dead.  Some  say  that  they  stay  near  the  tombs  with 
the  liberty  of  going  where  they  please  ;  1  others  that 
they  are  with  Adam  in  the  lowest  heaven,  or  in  Zemzem,2 
or  that  they  stay  near  the  graves  for  seven  days,  or 
that  they  are  all  in  the  trumpet  which  is  to  wake  the 
dead,  or  finally,  that  they  take  the  form  of  white  birds 
under  the  throne  of  God.3  When  an  infidel  comes  forth 
from  the  grave,  his  works  shall  be  presented  to  him 
under  the  ugliest  form  he  ever  beheld,  and  it  shall 
ride  upon  him.4  Certain  of  the  Arabs,  believing  in  a 
metempsychosis,  thought  that,  of  the  blood  near  the  dead 
person’s  brain,  was  formed  a  bird  named  Hamah,  which 
once  in  a  hundred  years  visited  the  sepulchre  ;  though 
others  say,  this  bird  is  animated  by  the  soul  of  him  who 
is  unjustly  slain,  and  continually  cries  oskuni,  oskuni , 
“  give  me  to  drink,”  meaning  of  the  murderer’s  blood, 
till  his  death  be  avenged;  and  then  it  flies  away.5  When 
a  corpse  is  laid  in  the  grave,  the  Mohammedans  say  he 
is  received  by  an  angel,  who  gives  him  notice  of  the 
coming  of  the  two  examiners,  which  are  two  black  angels 
of  a  terrible  appearance  named  Monker  and  Nakir.6  If 

1  Hence  the  belief,  which  is  still  current  in  Palestine,  that  the  dead 
may  drink  from  the  hollows  scooped  in  the  tops  of  tombs  where  the 
rain-water  gathers  (Baldensperger,  P.E.F.,  1893,  217). 

2  This  is  in  the  case  of  believers,  Zemzem  being  the  well  near  Mekka. 
Unbelievers  go  to  the  well  of  Borhflt  in  Hadramaut. 

3  Sale,  Koran,  Prelim.  Discourse,  sect.  iv.  4  Ibid.,  Surah  vi. 

5  Ibid.,  sect.  i.  On  the  Mandean  idea  of  the  soul  meeting  Shitil, 
one  of  the  first  emanations,  see  Schulim  Ochser,  A  Mandean  Hymn  of 

the  Sold,  A.J.S.L.,  vol.  xxii,  287.  On  the  curious  Syriac  Hymn  of  the 
Soul  see  Bevan,  Texts  and  Studies,  vol.  v,  No.  3. 

6  Ibid.,  sect.  iv. 


6 


SYRIAC  BELIEFS. 


a  man  pass  by  the  grave  of  a  friend,  he  should  hail  the 
soul  with  a  greeting.1 

The  Syriac  beliefs  are  given  in  the  Book  of  the  Bee : 2 
“  When  the  soul  goes  forth  from  the  body,  as  AbM 
Isaiah  says,  the  angels  go  with  it  :  then  the  hosts  of 
darkness  go  forth  to  meet  it,  seeking  to  seize  it  and  examine 
it,  if  there  be  anything  of  theirs  in  it  ...  As  to 
where  the  souls  abide  from  the  time  they  leave  their  bodies 
until  the  resurrection,  some  say  that  they  are  taken  up 
to  heaven,  that  is,  to  the  region  of  the  spirit,  where  the 
celestial  hosts  dwell.  Others  say  that  they  go  to  Paradise, 
that  is,  to  the  place  which  is  abundantly  supplied  with 
good  things  of  the  mystery  of  the  revelations  of  God  ; 
and  that  the  souls  of  sinners  lie  in  darkness  in  the  abyss 
of  Eden  outside  Paradise.  Others  say  that  they  are  buried 
with  their  bodies ;  that  is  to  say,  as  the  two  were  buried 
in  God  at  baptism,  so  also  will  they  now  dwell  in  Him 
until  the  day  of  resurrection.  Others  say  that  they  stand 
at  the  mouth  of  the  graves  and  await  their  Redeemer ;  that 
is  to  say,  they  possess  the  knowledge  of  the  resurrection  of 
their  bodies.  Others  say  that  they  are  as  it  were  in  a 
slumber,  because  of  the  shortness  of  the  time.” 

The  Yezidis  (the  devil-worshippers  of  the  Sinjar  Hills 
in  Mesopotamia)  say  that  the  spirits  of  wicked  men  take 
up  their  abode  in  dogs,  pigs,  donkeys,  horses,  or,  after 
suffering  a  while,  rehabilitate  as  men.  The  spirits  of  the 
good  inhabit  the  air  to  show  the  secrets  of  our  world.3 

1  Wellhausen,  Beste,  2nd  ed.,  183  (and  cf.  177  ff.) ;  on  the  whole 
subject  see  Jacob,  Leben  der  vorislamischen  Beduinen ,  143. 

2  Ed.  Budge,  131. 

3  Chabot,  J.A. ,  vol.  vii,  1896,  128.  A  picture  of  Sheol  according  to 
Ethiopic  beliefs  is  given  in  Budge,  Lives  of  Maba  Seyon  and  Gabra 
KrestOs ,  xxxiii. 


ASSYRIAN  GHOSTS. 


7 


Now  if  the  attentions  of  its  friends  on  earth  should  cease, 
and  the  soul  should  find  nothing  to  eat  or  drink,  then,  it 
was  driven  by  force  of  hunger  to  come  back  to  earth  to 
demand  its  due.  This  is  described  on  an  Assyrian  tablet 
which  begins — 

“  The  gods  which  seize  (upon  man) 

Have  come  forth  from  the  grave  ; 

The  evil  wind-gusts 

Have  come  forth  from  the  grave  ; 

To  demand  the  payment  of  rites  and  the  pouring  of 
libations 

They  have  come  forth  from  the  grave  ; 

All  that  is  evil  of  those  seven  1 
Hath  come  like  a  whirlwind.” 2 

Or  another — 

“  The  evil  Spirit,  the  evil  Demon,  the  evil  Ghost,  the  evil  Devil, 
From  the  earth  have  come  forth  ; 

From  the  Pure  Abode  unto  earth  they  have  come  forth  ; 

In  heaven  they  are  unknown, 

On  earth  they  are  not  understood. 

They  neither  stand  nor  sit. 

He  cannot  eat  food  nor  drink  water.” 3 * 

In  this  latter  text,  however,  the  reference  is  more  to 
devils  or  demons  than  to  ghosts,  but,  as  will  be  seen  later, 
the  classes  of  spirits  are  much  confused  with  one  another. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  passages  in  the  Gilgamish 
legend  describes  the  raising  of  the  spectre  of  Ea-bani 

1  I  have  adopted  Hehn’s  correction  of  my  previous  translation^ 
“jene  Sieben  [in  der  semitischen  Zeile  ;  ihre  Gesamtheit=sie  alle] 

(, Siebenzahl  und  Sabbat ,  1907,  5). 

2  Devils,  ii,  Tablet  *  Y.’  _ 

3  Ibid  Tablet  ‘  CC.5  The  last  line  refers  to  the  patient  ;  cf.  ibid., 

Tablets  ‘A,’  15  ;  XI,  67  ;  IX,  63  ;  ‘T,’  25.  The  “Pure  Abode”  is 

a  name  for  Eridu  (cf.  Devils ,  xv,  5). 


8 


ASSYRIAN  NECROMANCY. 


from  Hades.  The  Babylonian  hero  Gilgamish  attempts  to 
see  his  friend  Ea-bani,  who  has  died,  and  the  god  Nergal 
is  directed  by  Ea  to  restore  Ea-bani  to  earth.  The  shade 1 
of  the  dead  man  rises  through  an  opening  made  by  the  god 
in  the  earth  “  like  the  wind/’  a  transparent  spectre  in  human 
shape.2  Ea-bani  then  describes  what  he  has  seen  in  the 
underworld — 

“  The  man  whose  corpse  lieth  in  the  desert — 

Thou  and  I  have  often  seen  such  an  one — 3 
His  spirit  resteth  not  in  the  earth  ; 

The  man  whose  spirit  hath  none  to  care  for  it — 

Thou  and  I  have  often  seen  such  an  one — 

The  dregs  of  the  vessel,  the  leavings  of  the  feast, 

And  that  which  is  cast  out  into  the  street  are  his  food.”  4 

This  last  is  also  the  condition  of  the  neglected  spirit 
according  to  the  Egyptian  theology.  If  offerings  were  not 
paid  to  the  deceased  in  Egypt,  he  was  obliged  to  wander 
into  unclean  places  to  eat  such  filth  and  drink  such  dirty 
water  as  he  might  find  in  the  course  of  his  wretched 
wanderings.5 

1  Utukku  is  the  Assyrian  word  used  in  this  instance.  Cf.  the  story 
of  Odysseus  raising  Teiresias. 

•2  Cf.  Job  iv,  15,  “  Then  a  spirit  (breath)  passed  before  my  face.” 

3  Tamur  atamar ,  which  Jensen  translates  “  sahst  du,  sehe  ich.” 

4  Tablet  XII. 

5  Book  of  the  Dead ,  chapters  52,  53.  See  Wiedemann,  Realms  of 
Egyptian  Dead ,  44.  An  Egyptian  stela  puts  into  the  mouth  of  a  dead 
wife  the  following  adjuration  to  her  living  husband  :  li  0  my  comrade, 
my  husband  !  Cease  not  to  eat  and  drink,  to  be  drunken,  to  enjoy  the 
love  of  women,  to  hold  festival.  Follow  thy  longings  by  day  and  night. 
Give  care  no  room  in  thy  heart.  For  the  West  land  [a  domain  of  the 
dead]  is  a  land  of  sleep  and  darkness,  a  dwelling-place  wherein  those  who 
are  there  remain.  They  sleep  in  their  mummy  forms,  they  wake  no 
more  to  see  their  comrades,  they  see  neither  father  nor  mother,  their 
heart  does  not  yearn  for  wife  and  children.  On  earth  each  drinks 
the  water  of  life,  but  I  suffer  with  thirst.  Water  comes  to  him  that 
sojourns  on  earth,  but  I  pine  for  the  water  that  is  by  me.  I  long  for 


HEBREW  NECROMANCY. 


9 


A  similar  belief  in  necromancy  is  shown  among  the 
Hebrews,  for  Saul  goes  to  visit  a  “  woman  with  a  familiar 
spirit”  at  En-dor.  She  brings  up  Samuel  out  of  the 
earth,  and  he  answers  the  questions  which  Saul  wishes 
to  ask.1  The  very  name  of  a  class  of  magicians,  muselu 
edimmu,  “  Raiser  of  the  departed  spirit,  2  among  the 
Assyrians,  shows  how  great  a  hold  such  practices  had  over 
the  people.  In  IVIohammedau  tradition  Christ  raises  Shem, 
the  son  of  Noah,  who,  thinking  he  had  been  called  to 
judgment,  came  out  of  his  grave  with  his  head  half  gre^ , 
t(  whereas  men  did  not  grow  grey  in  his  days  ;  aftei 
which  he  immediately  died  again.3 

the  breeze  "on  the  bank  of  the  river  to  soothe  my  heart  in  its  woe. 
For  the  name  of  the  god  who  rules  here  is  ‘  Total  Death.  At  his  call 
all  men  come  unto  him,  trembling  with  fear.  He  makes  no  difteience 
between  gods  and  men  ;  in  his  eyes  high  and  low  are  equal.  He  shows 
no  favour  to  him  who  loves  him  ;  he  carries  away  the  child  from  his 
mother  and  the  grey-haired  man  alike.  None  comes  to  worship  him, 
for  he  is  not  gracious  to  his  worshippers,  and  he  pays  no  heed  to  him 
who  brings  gifts  to  him”  (Wiedemann,  The  Realms  of  the  Egyptian 
Dead,  translated  by  Hutchison,  28).  It  is  clear  that  offerings  of 
sacrificial  blood  and  libations,  when  poured  on  the  ground,  were 
believed  to  percolate  through  to  the  supernatural  beings  under  the 
earth.  When  Ea-bani  and  Gilgamish  desire  a  dream  they  ascend 
a  mountain  and  dig  a  hole  and  pour  an  offering  of  upuntu-medi 
into  it,  as  an  offering  to  the  mountain,  praying:  “0  mountain,  bring 
a  dream  [to  Ea-bani];  grant  him  [dreams,  0  .  .  .  .  -god]  (\, 

cols,  ii-iii,  1.  46). 

1  1  Sam.  xxviii,  7.  Tertullian  says  (Be  Idol.,  quoted  Conybeare, 
J.Q.,  viii,  604):  “The  magicians  call  up  ghosts  ( phantasmata ),  and 
dishonour  the  souls  of  those  long  dead  ;  they  smother  young  boys  to 
make  them  gasp  out  oracles  ;  they  play  off  marvels  with  the  trickery 
of  jugglers.”  Cf.  1  Sam.  ii,  6,  of  Yahweh  bringing  down  to  Sheol  and 

raising  up. 

^  W.A.I.,  ii,  51,  2,  r.  20,  21.  _  ^  .  .  ..  . 

3  Sale,  Koran ,  note  to  Surah  iii.  For  the  Palestinian  belief, 

cf.  the  story  of  Lazarus  (see  Encycl.  Bihl 2744)  ;  for  the  raising 
of  the  dead  among  the  Greeks,  see  Potter,  Archceologia  Grceca ,  7tli  ed., 


10 


DESECRATION  OE  GRAVES. 


If  the  bones  of  the  dead  were  removed  from  the  tomb, 
the  spirit  at  once  became  restless,  and  was  compelled  to 
roam  about  the  earth  homeless.  Assurbanipal  relates  how 
he  desecrated  the  tombs  of  the  kings  of  Elam  by  carrying 
away  their  bones  and  causing  their  rites  to  cease,  that 
their  spirits  might  have  no  rest.1  In  Egypt  Cambyses 
had  Amasis’  body  dragged  forth  from  its  tomb  to  be 

v 

mangled  and  burnt.2  On  the  other  hand,  Samas-sum-ukin 
relates  that  he  reinstated  the  rites  and  libations  to  the 
kings  who  had  preceded  him,  which  had,  for  a  time,  been 
abrogated.3 

It  was  usual  to  curse  future  desecrators :  “  May  his 
name  be  destroyed,  may  his  seed  be  blotted  out,  may 
his  life  be  ended  in  want  and  famine,  may  his  corpse  be 
cast  out  that  it  may  have  no  tomb.”4  On  the  sarcophagus 
of  Eshmunazar  the  Phoenician  king  has  inscribed  a  curse 
on  all  those  who  shall  disturb  his  rest :  “  May  they  have 
no  resting-place  with  the  Shades,  nor  be  buried  in  a  grave, 
nor  have  son  or  seed.”  0  And  there  is  evidently  some  idea 
of  this  in  Jeremiah’s  prophecy:6  “At  that  time,  saith  the 

i,  348  ;  Rouse,  Greek  Votive  Offerings,  3.  The  grave  is  always  the 
most  likely  place  to  see  a  spirit.  In  1906,  when  I  was  travelling 
in  the  Eastern  provinces  of  the  Soudan,  among  the  Bishartn  and 
Hadendowas,  one  of  the  Soudanese  servants,  who  was  left  in  sole 
charge  of  the  camp  for  a  few  nights,  declared  that  he  had  seen  a  ghost 
rise  from  a  grave  close  by  and  approach  him. 

1  W.A.I. ,  v,  6,  70  ff.  2  Herodotus,  iii,  16. 

3  Lehmann,  Samassumukin ,  ii,  21. 

4  W.A.I. ,  v,  61,  48  ff.  a,  quoted  Jeremias,  Vorstellungen  vom  Leben 
nach  dem  Tode ,  47. 

5  C.I.S.,  i,  3,  1.  8. 

6  Jer.  viii,  1  ff.  On  the  digging  of  foreign  tombs  for  bones  see 
Jeremias,  Vorstell. ,  54  ff.  Note  also  that  the  bones  of  Joseph  are 
carried  home  by  Moses,  Exod.  xiii,  19. 


DESECRATION  OE  GRAVES. 


11 


Lord,  they  shall  bring  out  the  hones  of  the  kings  of 
Judah,  and  the  bones  of  his  princes,  and  the  bones  of  the 
priests,  and  the  bones  of  the  prophets,  and  the  bones  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  out  of  their  graves :  and 
they  shall  spread  them  before  the  sun,  and  the  moon,  and 
all  the  host  of  heaven,  whom  they  have  loved,  and  whom 
they  have  served,  and  after  whom  they  have  walked,  and 
whom  they  have  sought,  and  whom  they  have  worshipped  : 
they  shall  not  he  gathered,  nor  be  buried  ;  they  shall  be 
for  dung  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Similarly,  in  the  tomb  inscriptions  of  Hejra  in  Arabia, 
written  in  Nabatean  about  the  beginning  of  our  era,  the 
maker  of  a  family  vault  frequently  calls  down  curses  on 
future  meddlers.  “  May  Dusara  and  Manuthu  and  Kaisah 
curse  all  who  shall  sell  this  tomb  or  buy  it,  or  pledge  it 
or  give  it  away,  or  let  it  out  for  hire,  or  write  any 
inscription  thereon,  or  bury  therein  any  except  those  whose 
names  are  mentioned,  for  this  tomb  and  inscription  are 
haram ,  as  the  liuvctm  of  the  Nabateans  and  Shalameans. 
The  ancient  superstitions  on  the  effect  of  disturbing  a 
grave  reappear  in  the  modern  Mohammedan  opinion  ;  it 
was  by  the  best  advice  that  Lord  Kitchener  caused  the 
destruction  of  the  Mahdi’s  body  after  the  battle  of 
Omdurman  in  1898.1  2 

Whether  the  Assyrians  believed  in  kismet  is  uncertain.  In 
the  legend  of  Zu  we  read  of  the  Tablets  of  Destiny  being 
stolen  by  Zu  from  Heaven.  Simtu  is  the  usual  word  for 
4  fate,’  and  a  common  euphemism  for  ‘  death  ’  is  to  say  simtu 

abilsu,  ‘  fate  carried  him  off.’ 


1  C.I.S.,  No.  197,  Huber  29,  Euting  2. 

2  See  H.  R.  Hall,  Guide  to  Egypt  and  the  Sudan  (Murray),  [109]. 


» 


12 


DESTINY  AMONG  THE  ASSYRIANS. 


Ahuraku  zaru  simtum  ubtil 
Agarinnu  alitti  ittar  kur-nu-gi. 

“  I  rest  alone  ;  the  father,  destiny  hath  carried  him  off, 

The  mother  that  bore  me  hath  gone  to  the  land  whence  none 
return.”  1 

Marduk  is  the  god  musim  simate  sa  ilani  kalama ,2  “  that 
detei mineth  the  fates  of  all  the  gods/*  But  the  phrase  iua 
urn  la  simtisu  urruhis  imtut  (Sennacherib,  v,  2),  “  he  died 
piematurely  in  a  day  la  simtisu  ,”  shows  that  the  idea  is  more 
that  of  ‘  the  allotted  span/  here  at  any  rate,  than  of  any 
predestination.  A  possible  reference  to  Tablets  of  Destiny 
is  to  be  found  in  Exod.  xxxii,  33,  “  TVEosoever  hath  sinned 
against  me,  him  will  I  blot  out  of  my  book”  (of  Yahweh). 
Among  the  Arabs  A. I- la uhu’ l- Mahfuz  is  the  name  for  ‘the 
preserved  tablet  on  which  the  decrees  of  God  are  recorded 
with  reference  to  mankind.3 

The  possibility  of  avoiding  death  is  the  subject  of  an 
incident  in  the  Epic  of  Gilgamish.  After  Ea-bani’s  death, 
Gilgamish,  in  terror  of  such  a  fate,  goes  in  search  of  Sit- 
napishtim  .  I,  indeed,  will  not  die  like  Ea-bani ;  woe  hath 
entered  my  body  ;  I  fear  death.”  But  Sit-napishtim  tells 
him  that  he  cannot  escape  the  common  lot,  but  there  is 
a  wonderful  plant  called  sibu  issahir  amelu  (“the  old 
man  made  young  to  manhood”).  Gilgamish  starts  in 
search  of  it,  saying  that  he  will  eat  of  it  and  return  to 
his  youth.  He  finds  the  plant  and  comes  on  a  pool  of 
cool  water  in  which  he  bathes,  but  a  snake,  a  denizen  of 
the  spring,  scents  the  plant  and  darts  out  and  carries  it 
off,  leaving  Gilgamish  lamenting  over  its  loss.4 

1  Martin,  Textes  Religieux ,  164-5, 11.  9,  10. 

2  Hehn,  Beitr.  zur  Assgr.,  v,  375,  D.T.  109,  1.  5. 

3  Hughes,  Diet,  of  Islam ,  285. 

Gilgamish  Epic  ;  see  Jensen,  Keilinschr.  Bibliothelc ,  203  ff. 


GHOSTS. 


13 


Under  certain  circumstances  the  soul  of  a  dead  man 
never  entered  the  underworld.  For  instance,  it  is  a 
universal  belief  that  the  departed  spirit  can  find  no 
rest  so  long  as  its  body  remains  unburied.1  In  the 
Assyrian  incantations  we  find  long  lists  of  ghosts  exorcised, 
each  severally  described  with  the  reason  of  its  return.2  The 
reason  that  these  lists  are  so  long  is  that  the  sorcerer,  as 
has  been  explained  elsewhere,  may  show  that  he  knows 
the  name  of  the  particular  ghost  he  is  exorcising. 

“  Whether  thou  art  a  ghost  that  hath  come  from  the  earth  .  .  , 

Or  one  that  lietli  dead  in  the  desert, 

Or  one  that  lietli  dead  in  the  desert,  uncovered  with  earth  .  .  . 

Or  a  ghost  unburied, 

Or  a  ghost  that  none  careth  for, 

Or  a  ghost  with  none  to  make  offerings, 

Or  a  ghost  with  none  to  pour  libations, 

Or  a  ghost  that  hath  left  no  posterity.” 3 

We  may  see  in  these  last  lines  one  of  the  reasons  for 
the  great  desire  of  the  Semites  for  children,  particularly 
males,  to  perpetuate  the  family  name.  Indeed,  this  is  not 
surprising  when  it  is  remembered  how  universal  a  custom  it 
is  to  sacrifice  to  the  dead,  with  the  duty  naturally  devolving 
upon  the  children.  It  is  as  common  among  Semites  as 
among  other  nations.  It  was  clearly  a  belief  among  the 
Assyrians  ;  it  is  the  same  with  the  Hebrews  :  “  I  have  not 
eaten  thereof  in  my  mourning,  neither  have  I  put  away 


1  In  the  O.T.  the  bodies  of  men  hanged  were  buried  carefully 

(Joshua  viii,  29). 

2  Devils ,  i,  Tablet  IV,  col.  iv,  41. 

3  The  last  line,  “that  hath  left  no  posterity,”  is  a  translation  of  zakar 
sume  la  is4y  literally  “that  hath  no  naming  of  a  name,”  i.e.  one  that 
carries  on  the  family  name. 


14 


OFFERINGS  TO  THE  DEAD. 


thereof,  being  unclean,  nor  given  thereof  for  the  dead.”  1 
An  Assyrian  text  describes  the  feast  of  an  evil  spirit :  “  Thy 
food  is  the  food  of  ghosts,  thy  drink  is  the  drink  of  ghosts.”2 
In  the  Hestorian  burial  service3  it  is  said  that  the  dead 
are  more  abundantly  helped  by  kurbane  and  requiems  and 
alms  which  are  done  in  their  behalf,  “  and  they  attain  rest 
of  their  souls  and  expiation  of  their  sins,  without  doubt.” 
Among  the  Sabians  a  feast  used  to  be  made  to  the  dead 
in  the  month  of  Tisri.  Each  man  would  buy  all  sorts  of 
food,  meat,  or  fresh  and  dried  fruit,  and  cook  sweetmeats, 
burning  them  all  night  for  the  dead,  and  also  pouring 
libations  on  the  fire.  They  had  also  a  curious  custom  of 
burning  the  thigh-bone  of  a  camel  for  the  “  Dog  of  the 
Witch  ”  (Hekate),  that  he  may  not  bark  at  the  dead.4 
The  Persians  used  to  believe  that  the  ghosts  of  their 
ancestors  were  in  the  habit  of  returning  to  one  of  their 
feasts  (Tabarjan).5 

Among  the  later  Hebrews,  parents  were  forbidden  to 
wash  during  the  first  days  of  the  mourning  for  their  dead 


1  Deut.  xxvi,  14.  On  offerings  to  the  dead  among  the  Hebrews  see 
Schwally,  Das  Leben  nach  dem  Tode ,  31.  “Are  we  to  think  of  the 
mere  unluckiness  of  anything  connected  with  the  dead  (Hos.  ix,  4),  or 
of  some  form  of  worship  as  in  Isa.  viii,  19  ?”  ( Encycl .  Bibl.,  840). 

2  Devils ,  i,  Tablet  ‘A,’  17  ff. 

3  Isaac  H.  Hall,  Hebraica,  iv,  198. 

4  En-Nedim,  i,  v,  §  7,  Chwolsohn,  Die  Ssabier ,  ii,  31. 

5  Mohammed  Abh-Thaleb  Dimeshld,  ibid.  232.  Cf.  Frazer,  Golden 
Bough ,  iii,  88,  quoting  a  peculiar  belief  of  the  Athenians  from 
Hesychius,  that  the  souls  of  the  dead  came  back  from  the  nether  world 
and  went  about  the  city.  The  people  smeared  their  houses  with  pitch, 
apparently  thinking  that  they  would  thus  be  rendered  unrecognisable. 
See  also  Frazer,  Journ.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xv,  64  ff.,  for  ghosts  and  the 
disposal  of  the  dead  body.  On  the  worship  of  ghosts  in  the  East  see 
Lyall,  Asiatic  Studies ,  1899,  145  ff. 


THE  RETURN  OE  THE  GHOST. 


15 


child.1  As  long  as  the  body  remained  unburied,  the  parents 
were  excused  from  reading  the  Shema’  and  the  wearing  of 
phylacteries.  There  was  also  a  custom  of  turning  seats 
upside  down  “in  sign  of  mourning.”  This  was  done  as 
soon  as  the  dead  was  carried  out  of  the  house.  On  the 
eve  of  Saturday  the  seats  were  replaced,  but  on  the 
Saturday  evening  they  were  turned  up  again.  Three 
explanations  were  given  by  the  Rabbis  for  this  :  (1)  From 
an  explanation  of  Job  ii,  13,  where  the  expression  used 

is  “they  sat  with  him,  and  not  0n  the  earttu 

(2)  God  gave  a  form  in  His  likeness,  now  turned  face 
upwards  in  death  as  a  punishment  for  sin ;  hence  the 
couches  should  be  turned  up.  (3)  It  is  on  the  couch  that 
a  birth  takes  place  ;  hence  at  death  it  should  be  turned  up. 
Notwithstanding  these  elaborate  explanations,  I  think  the 
idea  is  to  prevent  the  ghost  returning  to  sit  in  the  house. 
Similarly,  as  long  as  the  corpse  is  above  ground  the 
mourners  should  eat  with  neighbours ;  if  they  have  no 
neighbours,  in  any  chamber  but  the  customary  dining¬ 
room.  In  default  of  this,  some  separation  between  them 
and  the  dead  should  be  made,  or,  in  the  impossibility  of 
doing  even  this,  they  should  turn,  at  least  for  eating, 
towards  the  opposite  wall 2  in  the  room.  Among  the  Jews 
in  Palestine  at  the  present  day,  unless  the  Kaddish  is 
said  after  a  man’s  death,  he  cannot  rest.3  The  modern 
Arabs  and  Syrians  consider  that  a  man  has  obligations 
towards  the  dead  which  must  not  be  neglected,  and  they 
tell  stories  of  the  way  in  which  departed  spirits  left  to 
shift  for  themselves  have  returned  to  their  descendants 


1  Berakhotli ,  ii,  7  (6),  eel  Schwab,  i,  45. 
3  Masterman,  Bibl.  World ,  xxii,  250. 


2  Ibid.,  iii,  1. 


16 


OFFERINGS  TO  THE  DEAD. 


in  dreams  at  night,  reproaching  them  for  their  lack  of 
filial  duty.1  Among  the  Nusairiyeh  there  is  a  sacrifice 
for  the  dead,  aud  a  parent  may  say  at  the  sacrifice 
“  redeem  soul  by  soul,”  that  is,  redeem  the  soul  of  the 
dead  man  by  the  soul  of  the  animal  to  be  killed  as 
victim.2  Among  certain  Arabs,  when  they  died,  their 
camel  was  tied  to  their  sepulchre,  and  so  left  without 
meat  and  drink  to  perish,  and  accompany  them  to  the 
other  world,  lest  they  should  be  obliged  at  the  resurrection 
to  go  on  foot.3  According  to  Curtiss,  an  Arab  often 
leaves  a  sum  in  his  will  to  be  expended  in  the  sacrifice  of 
a  victim  in  his  behalf.4  On  the  day  of  Korban,  the  great 
sacrifice  on  Mount  Arafat,  each  Arab  family  kills  as 
many  camels  as  there  have  been  deaths  of  adult  persons 
during  the  last  year  in  that  family,  seven  sheep  being 
the  full  substitute  for  one  camel.5  Palgrave  explains,  in 
his  chapter  ]\Ia(an  to  the  Djouf  Arabs,  that  the  souls  of 
the  dead  “  are  pleased  with,  nay,  require  sacrifices  at 
their  tombs,  and  the  blood  thus  shed  nourishes  and 
satiates  them.” 6  In  Palestine  the  tops  of  tombs  are 
sometimes  made  concave  to  allow  the  rain  -  water  to 
accumulate  there  that  the  dead  may  drink.7  These  are 
paralleled  in  the  vetcvia  of  the  Odyssey,8  in  which  the 
ghosts  drink  greedily  of  the  sacrificial  blood. 

We  have  therefore  ample  evidence  that  the  Semites 
generally  paid  rites  and  made  offerings  to  the  dead,  under 
the  impression  that  they  were  feeding  the  ghosts,  and 

1  Curtiss,  Prim.  >S 'em.  Eel.,  178,  206.  2  Ibid.,  208. 

3  Sale,  Koran ,  sect.  i.  4  Loc.  cit.,  206. 

5  Burckhardt,  Notes  on  the  Bedouins  and  Wahabis,  i,  99. 

6  i,  33. 

7  Baldensperger,  P.E.F.,  1893,  217.  8  xi. 


NAILING  DOWN  THE  GHOST. 


17 


that  if  they  ceased  to  offer  sustenance  to  the  souls  of  their 
ancestors  they  might  render  themselves  liable  to  affliction 
or  even  possession  by  the  hungry  souls  of  the  departed. 

But  there  are  many  other  accidents  which  prevent  a  soul 
from  entering  into  rest  : — 

“  He  that  lieth  in  a  ditch  .  .  . 

He  that  no  grave  covereth  .  .  . 

He  that  lieth  uncovered, 

Whose  head  is  uncovered  with  dust, 

The  king’s  son  that  lieth  in  the  desert 
Or  in  the  ruins, 

The  hero  whom  they  have  slain  with  the  sword.”  1 


Among  the  modern  Arabs  the  soul  of  a  murdered  man 
must  be  nailed  down.  If  a  man  is  murdered  in  Egypt 
his  afrit  rises  from  the  ground  where  his  blood  has  been 
shed,  but  it  can  be  restrained  by  driving  a  new  nail  which 
has  never  been  used  into  the  ground  at  the  spot  where  the 
murder  was  committed.2  I  met  with  such  a  case  in  Tripoli 
(Barbary).  While  I  was  waiting  for  my  caravan  to  be 
made  up  for  a  journey  round  the  inland  districts,  the 
proprietor  of  the  little  Italian  locanda  showed  me  a  nail 


which  had  been  driven  into  the  paving  of  the  porch  floor. 
A  few  vears  before,  a  native  had  been  murdered  close 
to  the  door,  and  immediately  the  neighbouring  Arabs 
thronged  thither  with  hammer  and  nail,  and  thus  secured 


the  freedom  of  the  place  from  being  haunted  by  the  dead 
man’s  soul.  Some  time  after  the  proprietor  attempted  to 
remove  the  nail,  but  he  was  at  once  prevented,  on  the 
grounds  that  the  ghost  would  thereby  be  released. 


1  W.A.I. ,  ii,  17;  Haupt,  A.S.K.T.,  11,  ii,  6.  Cf.  Num.  xix,  16, 
“  And  whosoever  in  the  open  field  toucheth  one  that  is  slain  with 
a  sword  ....  shall  be  unclean  seven  days.” 

2  Sayce,  Cairene  Folklore ,  Folklore ,  ii,  389. 


18 


NAILING  DOWN  THE  SPIRIT. 


While  on  the  subject  of  nailing  down  a  demon,  the 
method  in  vogue  for  curing  a  headache  at  Mosul  is  worth 
quoting.  The  shehh  comes  and  lays  his  hands  on  the 
patient’s  head  and  then  drives  a  nail  into  the  wall,  thus 
obviously  transfixing- the  devil  therewith.1  Frazer,  in  the 
Golden  Bough,2  quotes  other  instances,  notably  two  among 
the  Arabs,  one  (from  Leared)  of  a  house  in  Mogador 
haunted  by  spirits  and  devils  who  threw  stones  about,  but 
were  finally  laid  by  a  holy  man  pronouncing  an  incantation 
and  driving  a  nail  into  the  wall.  The  second  is  mentioned 
by  Lane,  similar  to  the  cure  for  headache  that  I  met  in 
Mosul ;  the  people  of  Cairo  suffering  from  migraine  used 
to  knock  a  nail  into  the  great  wooden  door  of  the  old 
South  Gate.  According  to  Baldensperger,3  the  Mared, 
a  very  tall  Arab  ghost,  appears  chiefly  where  people  have 
been  killed,  and  the  Mohammedans  use  big  iron  or  wooden 
pegs  to  prevent  such  ghosts  appearing. 

A  similar  belief  may  be  traced  in  the  story  of  Babbi 
Isaac  Luria  when  he  was  passing  the  great  academy  of 
Babbi  Yochanan  in  Tiberias.  He  showed  his  disciples  a  hole 
in  the  wall,  saying,  “  In  this  stone  there  is  a  transmigrated 
soul,  and  it  cries  that  I  should  pray  on  its  behalf.” 4 

But  in  addition  to  these  ghosts  we  find  that  the  souls  of 
men  and  women  who  had  died  prematurely  were  compelled 
to  haunt  mankind  until  they  were  laid  to  rest.  Among 
these  we  find  mentioned  in  Assyrian  spells — 


1  See  my  article  P.S.B.A.,  Feb.  1906,  80-1.  2  iii,  33-4. 

3  P.E.F. ,  1899,  149.  On  the  Mared  appearing  where  a  murder  had 

been  committed,  see  G.  Robinson  Lees,  Village  Life  in  Palestine ,  217. 

4  Hershon,  Talm.  Misc.,  327,  quoting  Kabbala,  Emeli  Hamelech , 
fol.  11,  col.  2. 


GHOSTS  OF  THOSE  WHO  HAVE  DIED  PREMATURELY.  19 


“  He  that  hath  died  of  hunger  in  prison, 

He  that  hath  died  of  thirst  in  prison, 

The  hungry  man  who  in  his  hunger  hath  not  smelt  the  smell  of 
(food), 

He  whom  the  bank  of  a  river  hath  let  perish,  and  he  hath  died, 
He  that  hath  died  in  the  plain  or  the  marsh, 

He  whom  the  Storm-god  hath  submerged  in  the  plain.”  1 

“  A  woman  (that  hath  died)  a  virgin, 

A  man  (that  hath  died)  unmarried.”  2 

“  A  (sacred  ?)  harlot  (that  hath  died),  whose  body  is  sick, 

A  woman  (that  hath  died)  in  travail, 

A  woman  (that  hath  died)  with  a  babe  at  the  breast, 

A  weeping  woman  (that  hath  died)  with  a  babe  at  the  breast, 

An  evil  man  (that  hath  died).” 3 * 

This  list  is  further  elaborated  by  the  details  that  it 
may  be  the  ghost  of  a  dead  woman  who  was  nursing 

1  W.A.l. ,  ii,  17,  22  ff.,  and  Haupt,  A.S.K.T.,  11,  ii,  22  ff. 

2  Devils ,  i,  Tablet  IV,  iv,  45-6.  See  the  notes  as  to  the  actual 
meaning  of  ‘  virgin 5  and  ‘  unmarried,’  which  cannot  be  said  to  be 
absolutely  certain,  although  the  evidence  is  distinctly  favourable  to 
such  a  translation.  Besides,  in  Haupt,  A.S.K.T.,  11,  i,  15,  two  other 
phrases  describing  ghosts,  la  mutir  irti  and  idu  nu-un-da-ri-a, 
seem  to  point  to  a  similar  meaning.  According  to  Eustathius 
(ad.  II.  xxiii,  141,  p.  1293),  among  the  Greeks  it  was  customary  to 
place  on  the  grave  of  those  who  died  unmarried  a  water-jar  called 
Loutrophoros,  in  token  that  the  dead  had  died  unbathed  and  without 
offspring  (J.  E.  Harrison,  Prolegomena ,  622). 

3  Ibid.,  v,  21  ff.  ;  Tablet  V,  i,  51  ff.  For  the  ‘weeping  woman’ 

I  would  suggest  that  her  babe  has  also  died.  I  venture  to  think  the 
explanation  that  they  are  all  ghosts  of  dead  people  to  be  a  better  one 
than  that  of  M.  Fossey  :  “  Enfin  une  personne  ordinairement  inoffensive 
peut,  k  certains  moments,  devenir  dangereuse ;  telles  sont  la  femme 
qui  allaite,  la  femme  morte  d’un  cancer  au  sein,  et  la  femme  enceinte. 
La  prostituee  est  exorcisee  comme  un  veritable  demon  ”  ( La  Magie ,  50). 
That  it  is  not  mentioned  specifically  that  they  are  dead  is  no  stumbling- 
block.  It  was,  I  think,  clearly  understood,  and  further,  the  ill-omened 
mention  of  death  was  in  many  cases  thus  avoided,  just  as  it  was  among 
the  Greeks  :  “  a  purification  for  you  to  whom  it  is  meet  and  right,” 

i.e.  the  dead  (J.  E.  Harrison,  loc.  cit.,  60). 


20 


WOMEN  DYING  IN  CHILDBED. 


her  child,  whose  breast  was  sweet,  bitter,  ulcerated,  or 
wounded ; 1  or  of  a  woman  with  child,  whose  womb  was 
healthy,  loosened  ( patru ),  cast  ( rummu ),  or  not  healthy.2 
The  untimely  birth,  again,  seems  to  have  been  counted  as 
a  ghost.3 

JSTow  this  curious  ghost,  the  woman  who  has  died  in 
childbirth,  is  universal.4  Doughty  relates  how  in  Arabia 
he  “  heard  scritching  owls  sometimes  in  the  night ;  then 
the  nomad  wives  and  children  answered  them  with  mocking 
again,  ‘Ymgebas!  Ymgebas !  ’  The  hareem  said,  ‘It  is 
a  wailful  woman,  seeking  her  lost  child  through  the 
wilderness,  which  was  turned  into  this  forlorn  bird.’  ” 5 
Among  the  Malays,  if  a  woman  die  in  childbirth  she  is 
supposed  to  become  a  langsuyar,  or  flying  demon,  a  female 
familiar.  To  prevent  this,  glass  beads  are  put  in  the 
mouth  of  the  corpse,  a  hen’s  egg  is  put  under  the  armpits,, 
and  needles  in  the  palms  of  the  hands.  This  stops  the 
dead  woman  shrieking,  waving  her  arms,  or  opening  her 


1  Oefele,  Zeits.  filr  Assyr.,  xiv,  360,  explains  museni/ctu  sa  ina  mihis- 
tuli  imut  as  one  that  has  died  of  carcinoma.  Among  modern  Arabs 
the  bad  milk  of  nurses  is  held  to  be  one  of  the  things  (along  with  the 
poison  of  serpents,  scorpions,  mad  dogs,  etc.)  against  which  a  magical 
cup  will  be  efficacious  by  its  virtue  (Reinaud,  Monumens  Musulmanes , 
ii,  340). 

2  Haupt,  A.S.K.T.,  11,  i,  35. 

2  Ibid.,  i,  13,  ispu  Jcubu  sa  .  .  .  Jastrow  ( Religion ,  German  ed.,  367) 
explains  this  as  “  Fruhgeburt.”  The  sa  .  .  .  may  be  the  beginning  of 
a  translation  of  the  corresponding  Sumerian  itu  nu-til-la,  “  that 
which  doth  not  complete  the  month  (?).5’  Cf.  also  the  beginning' 
of  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits ,  Tablet  I V  :  “  They  are  that  which  was 
spawned  in  the  creation  of  Anu,  children  of  the  earth  they  were  born;, 
they  are  that  which  a  woman  in  travail  [hath  brought  forth  dead  ?  ?},. 
which  an  evil  foster-mother  [hath  .  .  .  ].” 

4  See  Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  ii,  345. 

5  Arabia  Deserta ,  i,  30 5. 


WOMEN  DYING  IN  CHILDBED. 


21 


hands.1  The  original  langsuyar  was  supposed  to  he  a  kind 
of  night  owl,  like  the  Lilith  of  Rabbinic  tradition,  and  is 
similar,  therefore,  to  the  ghost  of  which  Doughty  speaks. 
Among  the  Arabs  of  Palestine,  the  Egyptian  eagle  owl  is 
an  enchanted  woman,  who  possesses  baneful  influences  over 
childbirth.  Neither  the  name  of  the  child  nor  the  bird 
must  be  mentioned  within  a  few  days  of  the  birth,  as  the 
sorceress  (the  owl)  would  take  the  child.2  In  more  ancient 
Arabic  lore  the  owl  is  a  human  incarnation,3  and  Laila 
took  this  form  in  flying  from  the  grave  of  her  beloved.4 

Among  the  modern  Jews  of  Lemburg,  if  a  woman  dies 
pregnant,  it  is  supposed  to  be  undesirable  for  her  sake  and 
that  of  the  congregation  that  the  foetus  should  be  buried 
with  the  body.  The ,  corpse  is  therefore  bathed  at  mid¬ 
night,  and  after  half  an  hour  the  name  of  the  dead  is 
called  seven  times,  and  a  shofar  blown  seven  times  in  her 
ear.  The  corpse  with  many  groans  will  then  give  birth 
to  a  dead  undeveloped  child.5 

The  Sakai  of  Perak,  when  they  make  a  necklace-charm, 
repeat  this  invocation  : — 

‘  ‘  OM  !  Die,  0  Mati-anak,  buried  under  the  earth  heaped  up 
for  the  Roadway. 

What  is  the  origin  of  thy  existence  ? 

Demon  of  the  blood  of  a  person  dead  in  childbirth, 

That  is  the  origin  of  thy  existence. 

Mati-anak  of  the  River-banks,  return  to  the  River-banks  ; 

Mati-anak  of  the  ‘  outcrop,’  return  to  the  outcrop  ; 

Pluck  out  with  spells  and  neutralise  again  and  again  the 
demon  Mati-anak. 

Descend,  0  poison  of  the  Mati-anak  ; 

Rise,  0  neutraliser  of  mine.” 

1  Skeat,  Malay  Magic  (quoting  Sir  William  Maxwell),  325. 

2  Baldensperger,  P.E.F.,  1893,  212.  3  Wellhausen,  Reate,  157. 

4  Ibid.,  183.  5  Jewish  Encycl .,  article  Superstitions. 


22 


WOMEN  DYING  IN  CHILDBED. 


The  magician  then  spits  twice  on  the  necklace,  which 
must  be  made  of  plants  pulled  up,  and  not  cut  or  dug 
up.1  This  latter  rite  brings  it  into  connection  with  the 
tabu  against  pulling  up  plants. 

To  quote  one  or  two  instances  from  other  than  Semitic 
nations,  in  the  Banks  Islands,  Melanesia,  the  ghost  of 
a  woman  who  has  died  in  childbed  cannot  go  away  to 
Panoi  or  ghostland,  if  her  child  lives,  for  she  cannot  leave 
the  baby  behind.  In  the  Pelew  Islands,  when  a  woman 
has  died  in  childbed,  her  spirit  comes  and  cries,  “  Give  me 
the  child  !  ”  2  In  India  the  same  ghost  appears.3 

There  is  a  curious  story  current  in  Mosul  about  a  woman 
who  died  and  was  buried  before  her  child  was  born.4  This 
story  I  heard  in  Mosul,  and  I  learnt  that  it  was  also  told 
in  Baghdad  when  I  was  there,  and  curiously  enough,  when 
at  Luxor  some  time  after,  an  Arab  boy  told  me  that  a  near 
relation  of  his,  his  father  or  uncle,  who  was  a  native  of 
Mosul,  had  also  repeated  it  to  him.  The  story  goes  that 
after  the  woman  was  buried  in  a  tomb,  her  son  was  born 
and  lived  and  grew  up  in  that  tomb  for  about  ten  years, 
when  he  was  found  by  a  man  digging  into  the  grave.  The 
boy  was  taken  out,  fed  and  clothed,  and  lived  to  a  good  old 
age.  It  is  therefore  to  be  presumed  that  during  his  childhood 
in  the  tomb  the  boy  was  fed  in  some  supernatural  manner 
that  would  seem  to  imply  the  return  of  the  mother’s  spirit.5 

1  Skeat  and  Blagden,  Fagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula ,  i,  153. 

2  Frazer,  Golden  Bough  (quoting  Codrington,  and  Kubary),  ii,  345. 

3  Crooke,  Popular  Religion  and  Folklore  of  Northern  India ,  i,  269. 

4  P.S.B.A.,  Feb.  1906,  82. 

5  It  is  the  custom  among  the  Jews  in  Palestine,  if  a  woman  die  in 
childbirth,  to  keep  the  husband  out  of  the  room  (Masterman,  Bibl. 
World ,  xxii,  249).  Among  the  Greeks,  the  clothes  of  women  who  died 
thus  were  left  at  the  grave  of  Iphigeneia  in  Halae  (House,  Greek  Votive 
Offerings ,  252). 


DEAD  VIRGINS.  ABORTIONS. 


23 


Dead  virgins  and  men  who  die  unmarried,  we  shall 
discuss  later.  Be  it  noted,  however,  that  the  Assyrian 
words  used  to  describe  such  ghosts  show  that  full-grown 
and  marriageable  people  are  intended,  and  not  immature 
children,  and,  from  all  the  evidence,  it  seems  likely  that 
they  were  supposed  to  be  wedded  to  incubi  or  succubce , 
who  claimed  them  after  their  death. 

The  ‘  untimely  birth  ’  or  abortion,  if  the  restoration  of 
the  Assyrian  text  is  correct,  is  an  extremely  probable  ghost. 
According  to  Babbinic  traditions,  (t  an  infant  cut  or  torn 
at  birth,  a  miscarriage,  or  born  alive  at  the  eighth  month, 
or  born  dead  at  the  ninth — all  the  religious  ceremonies 
do  not  apply  to  it.”  1  We  may  therefore  infer  that  the 
Jews  believed  it  to  be  the  result  of  some  ulterior  cause. 
Again,  it  is  laid  down  in  the  Talmud2  that  the  dwellings 
of  heathens  must  be  considered  unclean,  because  it  was 
supposed  that  they  buried  their  miscarriages  in  their  houses. 
According  to  the  legends  of  the  later  Jewish  demonology, 
devils  are  not  so  much  fallen  angels  as  immature  creatures 
or  abortions.3  Mohammed  is  said  to  have  ordered  prayers 
to  be  said  over  an  untimely  birth,  when  supplication  should 
be  made  for  the  father  and  mother,  for  forgiveness  and 
mercy.4 

1  Talmud,  Ebel  Rabbathi,  ed.  Rodkinson,  viii,  2. 

^  P esachim,  ed.  Rodkinson,  v,  14.  3  Horst,  Zaubev  Bibliothek ,  ii,  391. 

4  Hughes,  Diet,  of  Islam ,  4.  As  a  legend  worth  mentioning,  the 
Arab  belief  about  Eve’s  first  child  is  interesting.  When  Eve  was 
pregnant  the  Devil  came  to  her  and  asked  her  if  she  knew  what  she 
carried,  and  suggested  that  it  might  be  a  beast.  He  appeared  again, 
and  pretended  that  by  his  prayers  he  would  obtain  of  God  that  it 
should  be  a  son  in  Adam’s  likeness,  if  they  would  call  him  Abdo’l-hareth 
instead  of  Abd  Allah.  When  the  child  was  born  it  died  (Sale,  Koran, 
note  to  Surah  viii).  In  Malay  ideas  deformed  children  may  be  the 
result  of  violating  certain  animal  tabus  (Skeat,  Malay  Magic ,  349). 


24 


CLAIM  ON  FRIENDS. 


Now  if  any  one  of  these  disembodied  souls  came  back 
to  earth  for  some  reason,  it  might  fasten  itself  on  any 
mortal  who  had  been  in  some  way  connected  with  him 
in  this  world,  or  had  been  brought  either  visually  or  by 
contact  into  relations  with  the  corpse.  The  chance 
sharing  of  food,  oil,  or  clothes  1  during  life  constituted  an 
act  which  gave  the  spirit  after  death  a  claim  to  return 
to  its  friend  or  even  casual  acquaintance,  to  demand  the 
rites  which  would  give  it  rest.  Nay,  less,  the  mere  act 
of  eating,  drinking,  anointing,  or  dressing  oneself  in 
company  with  another  person,  without  giving  or  receiving 
anything,  was  enough  reason  for  the  ghost  to  single  out 
his  victim  and  seize  upon  him  until,  perforce,  the  man 
was  compelled  to  suggest  that  he  would  pay  it  its  due 
rites  if  it  left  him  in  peace.  The  living  man,  thus  tor¬ 
mented,  makes  no  promises ;  he  merely  threatens  that 
no  offerings  shall  be  made  to  the  dead  until  the  spirit 
leaves  him  free.  Tablets  IV  and  Y  of  the  “  Evil  Spirit  ” 
series  render  this  quite  clear  in  Assyrian  tradition,  and 
the  incantation  seems  worth  putting  in  in  full : —  2 

“  Whether  thou  be  one  with  whom  on  a  day  I  have  eaten, 

Or  with  whom  on  a  day  I  have  drunk, 

Or  with  whom  on  a  day  I  have  anointed  myself, 


1  Of.  Tobit  i,  16  :  “And  in  the  days  of  Enemessar  I  did  many 
almsdeeds  to  my  brethren  ;  I  gave  my  bread  to  the  hungry  and  my 
garments  to  the  naked  ;  and  if  I  saw  any  of  my  race  dead,  and  cast 
forth  on  the  wall  of  Nineveh,  I  buried  him.” 

2  Devils ,  i,  Tablet  IV,  col.  v,  34  ff.  ;  cf.  Tablet  V,  col.  i,  11.  58  ff.  ; 
Haupt,  A.S.Ii.T. ,  11,  ii,  16.  On  the  question  of  vengeance  of  the  dead, 
notice  the  story  in  Berakhoth,  iii,  3  (ed.  Schwab,  298)  :  “  Has  not 
R.  Papa  related  that  someone  having  despised  Samuel,  a  gutter  fell  on 
his  head  from  above  and  broke  his  skull  (was  not  this  the  vengeance  of 
the  defunct?).  No,  since  it  was  the  question  of  a  great  wise  man,  the 
Lord  himself  intervened  in  his  favour.” 


DESCRIPTIONS  OF  GHOSTS  IN  ASSYRIAN. 


25 


Or  with  whom  on  a  day  I  have  clothed  myself, 

Or  whether  thou  be  one  with  whom  I  have  entered  and  eaten, 

Or  with  whom  I  have  entered  and  drunk, 

Or  with  whom  I  have  entered  and  anointed  myself, 

Or  with  whom  I  have  entered  and  clothed  myself, 

Or  whether  thou  be  one  with  whom  I  have  eaten  food  when  I  was 

hungry, 

Or  with  whom  I  have  drunk  water  when  I  was  thirsty, 

Or  with  whom  I  have  anointed  myself  with  oil  when  I  was  sore, 
Or  with  whom  when  I  was  cold  I  have  clothed  myself  with 
a  garment  from  (?)  his  loins, 

(Whatever  thou  be)  until  thou  art  removed, 

Until  thou  departest  from  the  body  of  the  man,  the  son  of  his  god, 
Thou  shalt  have  no  food  to  eat, 

Thou  shalt  have  no  water  to  drink, 

Thou  shalt  not  stretch  forth  thy  hand 
Unto  the  table  of  my  father  Bel,  my  creator. 

Neither  with  sea  water,  nor  with  sweet  water, 

Nor  with  bad  water,  nor  with  Tigris  water, 

Nor  with  Euphrates  water,  nor  with  pond  water, 

Nor  with  river  water  shalt  thou  be  covered. 

If  thou  wouldst  fly  up  to  heaven 
Thou  shalt  have  no  wings  ; 

If  thou  wouldst  lurk  in  ambush  on  earth 
Thou  shalt  secure  no  resting-place. 

Unto  the  man,  the  son  of  his  god,  come  not  nigh, 

Get  thee  hence  ! 

Place  not  thy  head  upon  his  head, 

Place  not  thy  hand  upon  his  hand, 

Place  not  thy  foot  upon  his  foot, 

With  thy  hand  touch  him  not, 

Turn  not  round  against  him, 

Lift  not  thine  eye  against  him, 

Look  not  behind  thee, 

Gibber  not  against  him, 

Into  the  house  enter  thou  not, 

Through  the  fence  break  thou  not, 

Into  the  chamber  enter  thou  not, 

In  the  midst  of  the  city  encircle  him  not, 

Near  him  make  no  circuit  ; 


26 


TABU  ON  SEEING  CORPSE. 


By  the  word  of  Ea 

May  the  man,  the  son  of  his  god, 

Become  pure,  become  clean,  become  bright  ! 

Like  a  vessel  of  lard  may  he  be  cleansed, 

/ 

Like  a  vessel  of  butter  may  he  be  clean  ! 

Unto  Samas,  chief  of  the  gods,  commend  him, 

v 

Through  Samas,  chief  of  the  gods, 

May  his  welfare  be  secured  at  the  kindly  hands  of  the  gods. 


With,  regard  to  the  mere  action  of  seeing  a  dead  body, 
the  whole  is  laid  down  clearly  in  a  ritual  tablet  published 
by  Zimmern  : — 1  2 

“  When  a  man  looketh  upon  a  corpse  3 *  and  the  spirit  ( edimmu )  seizeth 
upon  him  .  .  . 

Thou  must  sanctify  the  dwelling  (?),  lay  down  upuntu- meal  .  .  . 

In  the  morning  for  nothing  evil  a  sorcerer  [and  sorceress]  .  .  . 

•  •  •  •  •  * 

•  •••••* 

Make  .  .  .  figures  of  the  sorcerer  and  sorceress  .  .  . 

Thou  shalt  cause  to  take  ;  with  clothes  for  each  day  thou  shalt 
dress  them,  with  fine  oil  anoint  [them]  .  .  . 

Before  the  sun  thou  shalt  sprinkle  the  kisar  with  pure  water,  thou 
shalt  set  clean  seats  for  the  god  .  .  . 

Thou  shalt  spread  out  shining  (?)  garments,  an  altar  [thou  must 
place]  for  the  god  ... 

Three  times  a  meal  thou  shalt  set  before  Samas,  Ea,  and  Marduk, 

Dates,  ater-meal  thou  shalt  pour  forth,  thou  shalt  set  three  adagur- 
vessels, 

Three  censers  of  incense  thou  shalt  set,  thou  shalt  pour  forth  coi  n 
of  all  kinds, 

1  There  are  other  ghosts  mentioned  in  these  lists  less  easy  of 
explanation.  ii  One  that  hath  been  torn  from  a  date-palm  (Tablet  I"\  , 
col.  v,  1)  may  possibly  be  the  origin  of  the  belief  in  Pes.  111a,  that  it 
is  dangerous  to  walk  between  two  palm-trees.  Boissier  ( Textes  Ilelcttifs , 
100)  thinks  that  it  refers  to  one  that  has  fallen  from  it  while  climbing, 
a  very  probable  explanation. 

2  Ritualtafeln ,  164. 

3  Written  ba-bad.  Although  this  is  an  unusual  expression,  the 

translation  appears  to  be  correct. 


THE  RETURNING  SPIRIT. 


27 


For  the  ghosts  of  his  family,  on  the  left  of  the  offerings  thou  shalt 
set  a  seat, 

For  the  ghosts  of  his  family,  on  the  left  of  the  ghosts  on  the  left 
a  seat  thou  shalt  set, 

For  the  ghosts  of  the  family  thou  shalt  pour  libations  and  offer  gifts.” 

It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  the  universal  tabu,  both 
among  Semites  and  other  races,  on  the  dead  body,  but 
it  is  interesting  to  see  these  views  on  this  subject.  The 
dead  body  is,  of  course,  in  itself  tabu  ;  the  Hebrew  1  and 
Mohammedan2  laws  show  this  distinctly. 

Among  the  Arabs  a  woman  in  childbed  must  get  up 
and  go  out  of  the  house  when  a  corpse  is  carried  past,  or 
death  may  ensue  to  both  mother  and  child.3  The  Arab, 
again,  must  recite  a  prescribed  formula  of  prayer  on  the 
passing  of  a  funeral  procession,  and  also  on  his  seeing  the 
firstfruits  of  the  season  and  its  flowers.4  The  dead,  it  is 
said,  will  hear  his  voice  if,  on  crossing  a  cemetery,  he 

cry  aloud :  “O  ye  people  of  the  grave,  may  peace  be 
with  you,  of  both  sexes  of  the  Faithful.”  5  Among  the 

Jews  in  Palestine  a  dead  body  is  not  for  a  moment 

left  alone,  it  being  thought  that  wandering  spirits  might 
take  possession  of  it.  After  a  death,  for  seven  days 

a  lamp  must  be  kept  burning  all  the  time.  Should  it 
be  accidentally  extinguished,  it  is  considered  a  bad  sign. 
Near  the  lamp  are  placed  a  cup  of  water  and  a  towel,  as 

1  Lev.  v,  2  ;  xxii,  4. 

2  Sale,  Koran ,  Prelim.  Discourse ,  sect.  iv.  Cf.  Burckhardt,  jS  otes  on 
the  Bedouins  and  Wahabis ,  i,  99. 

2  Baldensperger,  P.E.F. ,  1894,  143. 

4  It  was  interesting  to  see  how  anxious  my  Mosul  servant  was,  just 
as  we  were  leaving  Baghdad  in  1905,  to  get  ahead  of  a  funeral  pro¬ 
cession  which  was  about  to  cross  our  path. 

5  Hadji  Khan,  With  the  Pilgrims  to  Mecca ,  43. 


28 


SPIRIT  TRANSFERRED  TO  WATER. 


it  is  supposed  that  the  spirit  comes  to  wash  there.1 2  As 
soon  as  a  death  has  clearly  occurred,  all  water  in  the 
house  is  poured  out  and  all  looking-glasses  are  turned  to 
the  wall,  “  lest  the  spirit  see  itself  reflected  in  the  glass. 
This  superstition  of  water  may  be  connected  with  the  idea 
in  Numbers  xix,  15  :  “  Every  open  vessel  which  has  no 
covering  bound  upon  it  is  unclean  ”  when  a  man  dies  in 
a  tent.  It  seems  to  have  been  an  accepted  belief  that 
spirits  might  be  transferred  to  water  ;  for  instance,  among 
the  Assyrians  we  find  an  incantation  for  a  sick  man  made 
over  a  little  figure  of  dough  thus  : — 

“  Put  water  upon  the  man  and 

Pour  forth  the  water  of  the  incantation  ; 

Bring  forth  a  censer  (and)  a  torch  ; 

As  the  water  trickleth  away  from  his  body, 

So  may  the  pestilence  in  his  body  trickle  away  ; 

Return  this  water  to  a  cup  and 
Pour  it  forth  in  the  broad  places  ; 

That  the  broad  places  may  carry  away 

The  evil  influence  which  hath  brought  low  (his)  strength.”3 

Or  in  the  Tablet  of  the  Ban : — 

‘  ‘  Like  water  may  they  pour  it  out, 

Like  a  goblet  may  they  dash  it  in  pieces, 

Like  a  tile  may  they  break  it.” 4 

Or  in  one  of  the  “Evil  Spirit”  texts: — 

“  The  evil  spirit  (and)  ghost  that  appear  in  the  desert, 

0  Pestilence  that  hast  touched  the  man  for  harm, 

1  Masterman,  Biblical  World ,  xxii,  256-7. 

2  Ibid.,  255.  This  fear  of  reflection  is  shown  in  the  Shi’ah  tradition 
if  a  Muslim  gaze  into  a  looking-glass  before  saying  his  prayers  he  will 
be  guilty  of  worshipping  his  own  likeness  (Hadji  Khan,  With  the  Pilgrims 
to  Mecca ,  42). 

3  Devils,  ii,  Tablet  ‘  T,’  Rev.  1.  3  ff. 


4  Ibid.,  Tablet  ‘  V,’  1.  60  ff. 


SPIRIT  TRANSFERRED  TO  WATER. 


29 


The  Tongue  that  is  banefully  fastened  on  the  man, 

May  they  be  broken  in  pieces  like  a  goblet, 

May  they  be  poured  forth  like  water.”  1 * 

The  idea  of  the  magician  in  his  exorcism  is  that  the 
evil  spirits  have  been  transferred  to  the  bowl  of  water, 
and  that  when  the  water  has  been  poured  away  and 
the  pot  broken  all  the  evil  influence  will  he  dissipated. 
This  is  the  idea  in  the  Maronite  rite  of  baptism.  The 
priest  enters  the  church  bearing  the  child,  and,  after 
various  ceremonies,  approaches  the  font  and  pours  water 
into  it,  and,  after  lighting  a  candle,  he  adjures  the  evil 
spirit  to  depart  from  the  water  “  that  it  may  be  a  fountain 
causing  eternal  life.,,  After  several  responsive  sentences 
he  drops  three  drops  of  tallow  in  the  water,  at  the  same 
time  praying  that  the  Lord  may  drive  out  every  evil  spirit 

and  Satanic  wile  from  the  waters 

The  Rabbinic  idea  of  the  soul  of  a  murderer  trans¬ 
migrating  to  water  is  the  same.  They  say  :  “  The  mystical 
sign  of  this  is  indicated  in  (Deut.  xii,  16)  ‘  Ye  shall  pour 
it  upon  the  earth  as  water’;  and  the  meaning  is,  he  is 
continually  rolling  on  and  on  without  any  rest.  Therefore 
let  no  man  drink  (direct)  from  a  running  tap  or  spout, 
but  from  the  hollow  of  his  hands,  lest  a  soul  pass  into 
him,  and  that  the  soul  of  a  wicked  sinner.”  3  To  drink 
water  drawn  overnight  is  one  of  the  things  (along  with 
sleeping  all  night  in  a  cemetery  or  throwing  one’s  nail 
parings  into  the  street)  which  cause  a  man  to  “  sin  against 
himself.” 4  If  a  man  drinks  water  at  night  he  exposes 


i  Ibid.,  i,  Tablet  ‘  C,’  col.  ii,  1.  156. 

3  Hershon,  Talm.  Misc.,  328,  quoting 

fol.  153,  cols.  1,  2. 

4  jYirldah ,  fol.  17,  col.  1. 


Bliss,  P.E.F. ,  1892,  214. 
Kabbala,  Emeli  llamelech , 


30 


SPIRIT  TRANSFERRED  TO  WATER. 


himself  to  the  power  of  Shabriri,  the  demon  of  blindness. 
If  he  is  with  some  one  else,  he  should  say,  “  I  am 
thirsty  ”  ;  but,  if  alone,  he  must  tap  on  the  lid  of  the 
jug  and  address  himself  by  his  own  name  and  the  name 
of  his  mother,  saying,  “  Thy  mother  has  bid  thee  beware 
of  Shabriri,  briri,  riri,  iri,  ri,  in  a  white  cup.”  1  On  the 
eves  of  Wednesday  and  the  Sabbath  one  should  not  drink 
water  except  out  of  white  vessels,  and  after  having  recited 
Ps.  xxix,  3-9,  or  other  magical  formulae,  for  it  is  on  those 
nights  that  Agrath  bath  Mahlath  is  abroad  with  her  train 
of  eighteen  myriads  of  messengers  of  destruction.2 

The  Jews  of  Galicia  break  a  pot  or  dish  in  front  of  a 
child  to  drive  away  the  demon  of  convulsions,3  and  among 
the  Arabs,  when  any  evil  is  apprehended  from  a  person, 
it  is  customary  to  break  a  piece  of  pottery  behind  his 
back.4  The  Levitical  laws  for  vessels  rendered  tabu  by 
the  touch  of  unclean  beasts  show  a  parallel ;  some  are  to 
be  put  in  water,  but  those  of  earthenware  are  to  be  broken.5 

Now  it  is  to  this  transference  of  evils  that  we  must 
refer  the  peculiar  custom  in  vogue  at  weddings  in  the  East, 
and  at  the  risk  of  diverging  from  the  main  subject  of 
this  chapter  for  the  moment  it  is  worth  an  examination. 
A  jug  of  water  is  placed  on  the  head  of  the  bride  at  an 
Arab  wedding  in  Palestine  when  she  reaches  the  door  of 
the  new  house,  “  as  a  sign  of  complete  submission  to  her 
husband,”  and  when  she  steps  into  the  house  she  must 
call  on  the  name  of  God  as  she  passes  over  the  lintel, 

1  Abodah  Zarah ,  fol.  12,  col.  2,  quoted  Hershon,  Talm.  Misc .,  232. 
See  Introduction. 

2  Pes.f  3 a  and  1126,  quoted  Jewish  Encycl.,  sub  Demonology . 

3  Jew.  Encycl.y  xi,  600. 

4  Lane,  Manners  and  Customs ,  324.  5  xi,  29-38. 


SPIRIT  TRANSFERRED  TO  WATER. 


31 


because  the  Jan  live  below.  The  bridegroom  strikes  the 
jug  as  she  passes,  throwing  it  down  and  breaking  it.  He 
also  holds  a  sword  over  her.1  According  to  Spoer,  who 
was  present  at  a  wedding  at  Siloain,  the  bride  put  a  little 
leaven  to  her  forehead  and  fastened  some  to  the  doorpost 
of  the  new  house,  and  entered  the  room  with  a  water- jar 
on  her  head,  “symbolizing  her  future  duties.”  2 

Surely  this  is  not  the  proper  explanation  for  so  peculiar 
a  custom.  The  “  calling  on  the  name  of  God,”  the  breaking 
of  the  pot  by  the  bridegroom,  and  the  prophylactic  sword 
(i.e.  iron)  can  only  point  to  an  ancient  rite  of  exorcism 
over  the  devils  who  are  always  ready  to  attack  newly 
wedded  folk  by  transferring  them  to  the  bowl  of  water 
with  a  “  word  of  power,”  and  then  dispersing  them  by  the 
destruction  of  the  pot.  Among  the  Yezidis,  for  instance, 
the  marriage  customs  seem  to  throw  some  additional  light 
on  this,  for  the  bride  on  her  arrival  at  the  house  of  her 
betrothed  is  struck  by  him  with  a  selala  (small  stone), 
symbolizing  that  she  is  under  his  power,  and  again  by 
a  loaf  of  bread,  signifying  that  “  she  should  be  compassionate 
on  the  poor.”  3  A  remnant  of  the  jar-breaking  reappears  in 
the  Cairene  custom  of  hanging  large  chandeliers  in  front  of 
a  bridegroom’s  house  and,  by  breaking  a  large  jar,  divert 
the  attention  of  the  spectators  .  .  lest  an  envious  eye  should 
cause  the  chandelier  to  fall.” 4  In  the  tract  Cctllah  it  is 
said  by  the  Rabbis  that  whoever  takes  drink  from  the 
hand  of  a  bride,  it  is  as  if  he  had  drunk  from  the  hand 

1  Baldensperger,  P.E.F.,  1894,  136,  138. 

3  Hans  H.  Spoer,  Biblical  World ,  xxvi,  13. 

3  Chabot,  Notice  sur  les  Yezidis,  J.A.,  vii,  1896,  127.  Both  of  these 
actions  can  be  referred  to  customs  of  driving  demons  away. 

4  Lane,  Manners  and  Customs ,  quoted  Arabian  Nights ,  vol.  iv,  note  44. 


32 


LAYING  THE  GHOST. 


\ 

of  a  harlot.  He  who  receives  a  cup  from  the  hands  of 
a  bride  and  drinks  therefrom  has  no  portion  in  the  world 
to  come.1  There  are  special  dispensations  allowing  fiancees 
to  wash  their  faces  on  the  Hay  of  Atonement.2 

There  is  another  Assyrian  tablet  dealing  with  the 
laying  of  ghosts.3  As  usual,  long  formulae  containing 
the  descriptions  of  all  possible  apparitions  are  prescribed, 
in  order  that  the  magician  may  show  that  he  knows  the 
name  of  the  haunting  spirit — “  A  brother’s  ghost,  or 
a  twin,  or  one  unnamed,  or  wTith  none  to  pay  it  rites,  or 
one  slain  by  the  sword,  or  one  that  hath  died  by  fault  of 
god  or  sin  of  king”  (col.  i,  11.  6-8),  or  “the  ghost  of 
one  unburied,  or  of  a  brother,  or  anything  evil” 4 
(col.  i,  1.  23).  The  ceremonies  appointed  for  the  laying 
of  the  spirit  are  as  follows :  Seven  small  loaves  of  roast 5 
corn,  the  hoof  of  a  dark-coloured  ox,  flour  of  roast  corn, 
and  a  little  leaven  5  are  necessary;  then,  after  a  libation, 

there  is  a  spell — 

“  0  ye  dead  folk,  whose  cities  are  heaps  of  earth,  whose  ...  are 
sorrowful,  why  have  ye  appeared  unto  me  ? 

I  will  not  come  to  Kutha  !  Ye  are  a  crowd  of  ghosts  :  why  do  ye 
cast  your  enchantments  upon  me  ?  ” 

The  flour  and  leaven  are  to  he  kneaded  into  a  paste 
in  the  horn  of  another  ox,  and  a  libation  poured  into 

1  Hershon,  Tahn.  Misc .,  236,  Tract  Callah . 

2  See  further,  under  Royal  Tabus. 

3  K.  2175  ;  see  my  article  P.S.B.A. ,  Nov.  1906,  219  ff.  Compare 
also  K.  2604,  beginning  :  “  When  the  ghost  of  a  man’s  father  appears,” 
and  K.  1 293  (Harper,  Letters,  No.  461) :  “The  figure  of  the  dead  man 
in  clay,”  followed  by  the  necessary  rites. 

^  It  is  also  possible  to  translate  here  “or  of  an  evil  brother  or 
sister.”  But  cf.  Meissner,  Ritualtafeln ,  152,  No.  45,  1.  9. 

5  On  this  translation  see  the  footnote,  loc.  cit.,  224. 


LAYING  THE  GHOST. 


33 


a  hole  in  the  earth  (just  as  Gilgamish  pours  his  offering 
into  the  earth  when  asking  a  dream).  Kutha,  in  this 
incantation,  is  the  underworld  ;  it  occurs  in  the  story  of 
the  Descent  of  Ishtar,  where  the  porter  of  Hades  says, 
“Enter,  0  Lady,  let  Kutha  he  glad  at  [thee].”1  After 
further  ceremonies  the  leavened  dough  is  to  he  placed  in 
the  hoof  of  the  first  ox,  and  another  libation  poured  out, 

v 

with  an  incantation  to  Samas. 

In  the  same  tablet  is  a  prayer  entitled  “Prayer  for 
when  a  dead  man  appeareth  unto  a  living  man  for  evil, 
to  turn  him  back  that  he  appear  not.”  The  ceremony 
begins  with  the  following  directions : — 

“  Spin  a  variegated  and  a  scarlet  thread  together,  and  tie 
seven  knots  in  it ;  thou  shalt  mix  together  oil  of  cedar, 
spittle  of  the  man,  the  leavened  dough,  earth  from  an  old 
grave,  a  tortoise’s  (?)  mouth  (?),  a  thorn  (?),  earth  from  the 
roots  of  the  caper,2  earth  of  ants;  thou  shalt  sprinkle  the 
knots  with  this.  While  thou  tiest  them,  thou  shalt  repeat 
this  incantation  [  (and)  bind  it]  on  the  temples  [of  the 
man].  Thus  shalt  thou  tighten  it,  until  the  darkening 


1  See  King,  Babylonian  Religion ,  180. 

2  Compare  the  story  in  the  Armenian  version  of  the  Life  of  St.  Nino 
(F.  C.  Conybeare  in  Studia  Biblica ,  v,  75)  about  the  childless  couple  : 
“And  a  luminous  man  said  to  me  (St.  Nino)  :  ‘  Go  into  the  garden, 
and  from  the  root  of  a  cedar  (or  pine)  sapling  by  the  rose-bushes 
thou  shalt  take  earth,  and  give  it  to  them  to  eat  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  and  He  will  give  them  offspring.”’  Cf.  also  ibid.,  p.  23. 
With  regard  to  the  “earth  of  ants,”  according  to  Bochart,  it  was 
a  custom  with  the  Arabs  to  place  an  ant  in  the  hand  of  a  new-born 
child,  with  a  prayer  that  he  might  grow  up  wise  and  sagacious 
( Encycl.  Bibl .,  i,  176).  In  late  Hebrew  magic  “dust  from  an 
ant-heap”  put  into  a  written  charm  and  hung  up  in  the  workshop 
brought  prosperity  in  business  ( Folklore  of  Mossoul ,  P.S.B.A. ,  March, 
1906,  103,  No.  5). 


34 


LAYING  THE  GHOST. 


of  the  white  part  of  the  face  and  the  whitening  of  the 
dark-coloured  part  of  the  face  takes  place  ”  1  .  .  . 

The  latter  part  of  this  incantation  prescribes  that  figures 
of  the  dead  man  and  the  living  person  to  whom  the  spirit 
has  appeared  be  made,  and  libations  made  before  both ; 
then  the  figure  of  the  dead  man  is  to  be  buried  in  a 
grave,  and  that  of  the  living  man  is  to  be  washed  in 
pure  water,  thus  typifying  the  burial  of  the  body  of 
the  ghost  and  the  cleansing  of  the  living  man.  The 
accompanying  spell  is  to  be  recited  : — 

“  0  Sun-god,  king  of  heaven  and  earth,  judge  of  what  is  above  and 
below,  lord  of  the  dead,  ruler  of  the  living, 

0  Sun-god,  the  dead  who  have  risen  and  appeared,  whether  the 
ghost  of  my  father  or  of  my  mother,  or  the  ghost  of  my  brother, 

Or  of  my  sister,  let  them  accept  this,  and  leave  me  free  !  ” 

Then  the  following  ceremony  is  to  be  performed.  In  the 
morning  at  early  twilight  the  liisav  must  be  sprinkled 
with  pure  water,  and  a  censer  lighted  for  the  Sun-god, 
to  await  him  at  his  rising,  burning  burasu- wood  or  gum  ; 
a  libation  of  sesame-wine  must  be  made,  and  a  libation  of 
asses’  urine  poured  forth  three  times.  Thus  will  the  dead 
be  stayed. 

Yet  another  method  is  given  in  the  same  tablet :  “  When 
a  dead  man  appeareth  unto  a  living  man  .  .  .  thou 
shalt  make  [a  figure]  of  clay,  and  write  his  name  on  the 
left  side  with  a  stylus  ;  thou  shalt  put  it  in  a  gazelle’s 
horn  and  its  face  .  .  .  and  in  the  shade  of  a  caper- 
bush  or  in  the  shade  of  a  thorn-bush  thou  shalt  dig  a 
hole  and  bury  it.” 

1  For  the  difficult  words  in  this  passage  see  the  whole  article.  The 
last  passage  is  somewhat  doubtful. 


OMENS  FROM  GHOSTS. 


35 


If  a  man  is  attacked  by  a  ghost,1  he  is  to  he  anointed 
with  various  substances,  and  “  the  hand  of  the  ghost  ” 
will  be  removed.  Even  the  fright  from  a  ghost  can  be 
assuaged  by  certain  prayers.2 

It  is  also  among  the  charges  brought  against  the  hostile 
wizard  in  the  Maklu- series,3  that  he  has  made  a  figure  of 
the  enchanted  person  (for  whom  the  health-giving  rites 
are  being  performed),  and  has  delivered  it  to  a  corpse,  or 
allowed  it  to  look  at  it,  or  laid  it  near  or  on  one,  or  in 
a  grave,  or  he  has  put  the  sick  man’s  water  by  the  side 
of  or  on  a  corpse. 

From  these  latter  texts  it  will  hardly  be  necessary  to 
adduce  further  proof  that  the  ancient  Assyrians  were  firmly 
convinced  that  they  might  actually  see  ghosts,  and  that 
there  was  no  doubt  that  this  might  happen  to  any  man. 
Yet  if  any  more  evidence  be  needed,  the  omen  tablet 
K.  8693 4  will  furnish  it.  This  text  gives  a  list  of  the 
probable  occurrences  to  be  expected  if  a  ghost  appears  in 
the  house  of  a  man. 

\ 

“  When  a  ghost  appeareth  in  the  house  of  a  man  there  will  be  a 
destruction  of  that  house  ; 

When  ditto  speaketh  and  hearkeneth  (for  an  answer),  destruction  of 
that  house,  the  man  will  die  and  (there  will  be)  lamentation. 

When  ditto  standeth  over  the  bed,  overthrow  of  the  bed  and  house.” 

The  same  thing  will  happen  if  it  is  under  the  bed.  We 
thus  see  that  it  was  counted  an  evil  omen,  if  an  apparition 

*  K.  4075. 

2  K.  3398.  For  both  see  Bezold’s  Catalogue  of  the  Kouyunjik 
Collection. 

3  Maklu,  Tablet  IV. 

4  Compare  also  S.  392  :  “  When  a  ghost  gibbers  in  the  house  of 

a  man  in  the  middle  watch,”  or  “in  the  morning  watch.” 


36 


PARALLEL  PROM  MALAYS. 


showed  itself  in  a  house,  either  silent  or  gibbering  in 
expectation  of  some  answer ;  further,  we  now  have  evidence 
for  the  belief  among  the  Assyrians  in  the  ghost  which  walks 
at  night  and  comes  to  the  bedside,  a  universal  tradition. 

There  is  an  interesting  parallel  to  these  rites  among 
the  Dyaks  or  Malays  of  some  of  the  western  tribes  of 
Borneo.  If  one  of  these  natives  falls  to  vomiting,  he 
believes  that  one  of  his  deceased  kinsfolk  is  responsible, 
and  he  repairs  to  a  wise-man  or  a  wise-woman  for  help. 
This  exorcist  pulls  out  one  of  his  hairs,  and  calls  on  the 
names  of  his  dead  relations  ;  the  name  at  which  the  lock 
gives  forth  a  sound  is  the  name  of  the  guilty  one.  The 
physician,  generally  an  old  woman,  then  says  to  the  ghost : 
“  Go  back  to  your  grave :  what  do  you  come  here  for  ? 
The  soul  of  the  sick  man  does  not  choose  to  be  called  by 
you,  and  will  remain  yet  a  long  time  in  its  body.”  Then 
she  puts  some  ashes  from  the  hearth  in  a  winnowing  fan, 
and  moulds  out  of  them  a  small  figure  or  image  in 
human  likeness.  Seven  times  she  moves  the  basket  with 
the  little  ashen  figure  up  and  down  before  the  patient, 
taking  care  not  to  obliterate  the  figure,  while  at  the  same 
time  she  says :  “  Sickness,  settle  in  the  head,  belly,  hands, 
etc.,  then  quickly  pass  into  the  corresponding  part  of  the 
image,”  whereupon  the  patient  spits  on  the  image  and 
pushes  it  from  him  with  his  left  hand.  Next  the  beldame 
lights  a  candle  and  goes  to  the  grave  of  the  person  whose 
ghost  is  doing  all  the  mischief,  and  throws  thereon  the 
figure  of  ashes,  calling  out :  “  Ghost,  plague  the  sick  man 
no  longer,  and  stay  in  your  grave  that  he  may  see  you 
no  more.”  1 

1  E.  L.  M.  Kiihr,  Schetzen  nit  Borneo's  Westerafdeeling ,  quoted  by 
Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  i,  267. 


THE  EXTERNAL  SOUL. 


37 


To  return  to  our  subject,  the  departed  soul.  Having 
seen  to  how  great  an  extent  the  ancient  Semites  believed 
in  the  individuality  of  the  soul  after  death,  it  now  remains, 
as  a  corollary,  to  look  into  the  question  of  a  belief  peculiar 
to  savage  races,  the  separation  of  the  soul  from  the  human 
being  during  life ;  that  is  to  say,  whether  the  Semites 
believed  at  all  in  the  possibility  of  a  man  guarding  his 
soul  in  some  other  place  than  his  body.  On  this  subject 
Frazer,  in  his  discussion  of  this  savage  idea,  quotes  the 
story  of  Seyf  el-Mulook  in  the  Arabian  Nights ,l  where 
the  jinni’s  soul  is  in  the  crop  of  a  sparrow,  which  is  in 
a  box,  in  another  box,  within  seven  boxes,  in  seven  chests 
in  a  coffer  of  marble,  and  as  an  Oriental  parallel  he 
compares  the  story  of  the  Two  Brothers  in  Egyptian.2 
For  other  examples  among  the  Semites,  we  may  mention 
a  Syrian  Arab  story,3  where  a  Princess  Hisn  says  to  a  Jew  : 
“  I  beg  of  you,  tell  me  where  your  soul  is,  so  that  I  and 
it  may  be  company  for  each  other  during  the  day.”  He 
said  to  her:  “In  the  wooden  lock  of  the  door.”  She 
put  a  bunch  of  flowers  on  the  door,  and  began  to  act  as 
though  she  was  talking  with  it.  The  Jew  came  in  the 
evening,  and  saw  the  door  decorated.  He  said  to  her . 
“  What !  are  you  crazy  ?  ”  She  said  to  him  :  “  I  beg  of 
you,  where  is  your  soul  ?  ”  He  said  to  her :  “  In  the 
broom.”  She  began  to  laugh  at  him,  so  that  he  would 
think  she  loved  him.  The  third  day  she  said  to  him  : 
“  I  beg  of  you,  tell  me  where  your  soul  is  ?  ”  He  told 
her  that  his  soul  was  inside  some  cotton  in  a  little  box  in 
the  foot  of  a  lame  gazelle.  She  said  to  him  :  “  How  shall 


1  Golden  Bough,  iii,  378. 

3  Huxley,  J.A.O.S. ,  xxiii,  287. 


2  Papyrus  D’Orbiney. 


38 


THE  EXTERNAL  SOUL. 


I  get  it  ?  ”  He  replied  :  “  By  means  of  three  hairs  from 
my  beard.” 

The  story  of  Samson  guarding  his  strength  in  his  hair 
seems  to  have  something  in  keeping  with  this  belief,  and 
another  passage  in  the  Old  Testament,  Ezek.  xiii,  18, 
is  noteworthy:  “Woe  to  the  women  that  sew  pillows 
upon  all  elbows,  and  make  kerchiefs  for  the  head  of 
persons  of  every  stature  to  hunt  souls.”  According  to 
Mohammedan  tradition,  the  soul  of  Adam  had  been  created 
thousands  of  years  before  the  making  of  the  clay  body, 
and  it  at  first  refused  to  enter  its  human  dwelling.  At 
last  God  forced  it  violently  through  Adam’s  nose,  which 
caused  him  to  sneeze.1  In  Assyrian  there  is  an  incantation 
directing  the  sorcerer — 

t 

‘  ‘  Bind  the  head  of  the  sick  man, 

•And  bind  the  neck  of  the  sick  man, 

And  bind  the  soul  (or  life)  of  the  sick  man.” 2 

The  remark  of  an  old  Fijian  chief  that  a  newborn  child 
is  scarcely  a  human  being,  as  its  spirit  has  not  yet  come 
to  it,  is  very  suggestive  in  this  connection.3 

We  have  now  to  turn  to  the  second  class  of  spirits,  those 
that  are  entirely  inhuman  and  supernatural.  They  exist 
in  the  fertile  imagination  of  the  Semites  in  countless  hordes, 
and  their  names  are  legion  ;  and  as  it  is  impossible  to 
compare  accurately  the  roles  of  each  separate  demon  in  the 
respective  Semitic  languages,  the  best  way  will  be  to 
examine  the  characteristics  of  each  successively. 

1  Jewish  Encyclopedia,  178. 

2  Devils ,  ii,  Tablet  IX,  1.  80  ff.  M.  Fossey,  in  his  La  Magie  Assyrienne , 
suggests  that  this  is  “  peut-etre  .  .  .  un  euphemisme  pour  designer  le 
membre  viril.” 

3  Fison  and  Howitt,  Kamilaro  and  Kurnai ,  190. 


THE  TJTUKKU. 


39 


Again  taking  Assyrian  as  the  base,  the  first  matter  that 
lies  before  us  in  the  oft-repeated  line  Utukku  Kmnu ,  alii 
Umnu ,  edimmu  limnu,  gallii  limnu,  ilu  limnu,  rabisu  limnu, 

,  “Evil  Spirit,  evil  Demon,  evil  Ghost,  evil  Devil,  evil  God, 
evil  Fiend.”  The  edimmu  we  have  already  dealt  with, 
the  alii  belongs  to  the  third  class,  being  half  human,  and 
the  “  evil  God  ”  yields  but  little  more  than  its  self- 
contained  idea,  so  that  we  have  only  to  treat  of  the 

utukku ,  the  gallii,  and  the  rabisu. 

The  utukku  is,  once  at  least,1  used  of  the  wraith  of  a 
dead  man  coming  back  to  earth,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  say 
wherein  the  difference  lies  between  it  and  the  edimmu. 
But  from  the  fact  that  we  find  it  only  once,  with  certainty, 
taking  the  place  of  the  edimmu ,  we  shall  probably  be 
right  in  ascribing  to  it  a  far  wider  scope.  It  was  certainly 
a  spirit  that  lurked  in  the  desert,2  the  common  home  of 
many  Semitic  devils,  lying  in  wait  for  man,  or  it  might 
have  its  home  in  the  mountains,  sea,  or  graveyard,3  and 
evil  would  befall  him  on  whom  it  merely  cast  its  eye.4 
The  following  text  describes  the  province  of  a  spirit  whose 
name  is  unfortunately  lost,  through  a  break  in  the  tablet. 
It  is  possible,  however,  that  it  is  the  utukku . 

“  The  evil  Spirit 5  robbeth  .  .  .  and  roameth  over  the  land, 

The  evil  Spirit  which  shroudeth  the  land  as  with  a  garment, 

The  evil  Spirit  which  against  the  man  angrily  .  .  . 

The  evil  Spirit  is  a  devil  which  heareth  not, 


1  The  Gilgamish  episode  ;  see  King,  Bab.  Religion ,  175. 

2  Devils ,  i,  Tablet  III,  1.  28,  p.  5. 

3  W.A.l. ,  ii,  17,  i,  3  ;  and  Haupt,  A.S.K.T.,  11,  i,  3. 

4  Devils ,  i,  Tablet  ‘  C,’  1.  179. 

5  The  Sumerian  word  is  lost,  and  the  Assyrian  translation  represents 
it  by  a  ditto- sign. 


40 


THE  RAB1STT. 


The  evil  Spirit  is  a  devil  which  hath  no  shame, 

The  evil  Spirit  is  a  devil  which  spawneth  evilly, 

The  evil  Spirit  which  bringeth  woe  on  the  land, 

The  evil  Spirit  which  hunteth  over  the  land, 

The  evil  Spirit  which  chaseth  living  beings, 

The  evil  Spirit  is  a  pestilence  which  .  .  .  the  hand, 

The  evil  Spirit  which  fiercely  hunteth  the  land, 

The  evil  Spirit  which  fiercely  raiseth  trouble  in  the  land, 

The  evil  Spirit  which  receiveth  not  .  .  . 

The  evil  Spirit  which  draweth  up  the  little  ones  like  fish  from  the 
water, 

The  evil  Spirit  which  casteth  down  the  elders  .  .  . 

The  evil  Spirit  which  striketh  grey-haired  old  men  and  women.” 1 

The  gallii  is  sexless.2 3  It  is  a  word  used  in  classical 
Assyrian  as  a  term  of  abuse,  being  used  by  Sennacherib 
to  describe  the  hostile  Babylonians  in  the  phrase  gcilli 
limnuti ,  ‘  evil  devils/  3 

The  rabisu,  as  its  name  implies,  is  a  lurking  demon  which 
sets  the  hair  of  the  body  on  end,4  just  as  in  Job  iv,  15  : 

“  Then  a  spirit  passed  before  my  face  ;  the  hair  of  my 

flesh  stood  up/’  This  ‘  lurker  ’  may  be  compared  to  the 
Syriac  bar  egara ,  a  demon  who  sat  on  the  roof  and 

jumped  on  a  man  as  he  came  out  of  the  house,  the  man 

so  afflicted  being  known  as  d’bar  egara.5 

1  Ibid.,  ii,  127. 

2  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits ,  Tablet  Y,  col.  iv,  1.  17. 

3  G.  Smith,  History  of  Senn.,  114,  1.  6. 

4  W. A. I.,  v,  50  ;  i,  51.  I  once  heard  a  Suez  Arab  in  the  Sinaitic 
Peninsula  explaining  how  he  could  always  tell  whether  a  black  man 
was  a  demon  or  not ;  his  hair  would  always  stand  up  on  end  of  its  own 
accord  if  the  negro  whom  he  passed  in  the  street  were  a  supernatural 
visitant. 

5  lr\^l  r^>  Payne  Smith,  Thesaurus ,  31,  “daemon  lunaris  qui  quovis 
mensis  lunaris  initio  luna  exagitatur  (lunaticus  fit),  necnon  is,  qui 
a  luna  ad  lunam  cruciabatur  a  daemone  qui  eum  cruciabat.” 


THE  LABARTU. 


41 


The  labartu ,  labasu,  and  ahhazu  are  a  triad  frequently 
found  together.  Of  the  first-named,  we  find  a  whole  series 
of  incantations  written  against  her.  She  is  a  female  demon, 
the  daughter  of  Anu,1 2  and  she  makes  her  home  in  the 
mountains,  or  cane-brakes  of  the  marshes.  Children  were 

particularly  exposed  to  her  attacks. 

It  is  curious  to  see  how  solicitous  the  Semites  were  in 
guarding  their  babes  from  the  malign  influence  of  such 
IciYtiicB.  For  instance,  the  spells  against  the  Icibcu  tu  include 
an  incantation  to  be  written  on  a  stone  and  hung  round 
the  child’s  neck — 

“  ‘  Labartu,  [daughter]  of  Anu/  is  her  first  name  ; 

The  second,  ‘  Sister  of  the  [gods]  of  the  streets 5  ; 

The  third,  ‘  Sword  that  splitteth  the  head  ’ ; 

The  fourth,  ‘  Wood-kindler  ’  ; 

The  fifth,  ‘  Goddess  of  awful  mien  7  ; 

The  sixth,  ‘  The  trusted,  accepted  of  Irnina  ’  ; 

The  seventh,  *  By  the  great  gods  mayst  thou  be  exorcised  ;  with 
the  bird  of  heaven  mayst  thou  fly  away.7  ”  3 

Gaster3  has  published  a  Hebrew  charm  as  follows:  “If 
thou  wishest  to  protect  a  young  babe  from  an  evil  spirit 
and  from  the  host  of  Mahalath,  write  these  angels  on 
a  tablet  of  gold  in  Assyrian  writing  (Ashuri) 4  and  carry 
it  with  thee,  and  thou  needst  not  fear  any  evil  eithei 
from  (for)  a  big  man  or  a  small  child.”  In  the  Testa¬ 
ment  of  Solomon  Obizuth  is  the  name  of  the  female  spirit 
that  visits  women  in  childbirth,  and  if  she  is  lucky  she 


1  Haupt,  A.S.K.T.,  11,  iii,  59. 

2  W.A.I.,  iv,  56,  i,  1  ;  Myhrman,  Zeits.  fur  Assyr .,  xvi,  155. 

a  P.S.B.A.,  1900,  340. 

4  I.e.  square  character  in  Hebrew. 


42 


THE  LABARTU. 


strangles  the  babe.1  The  Maronites  have  the  same  ideas 
about  hanging  prophylactic  amulets  on  children.  Bliss 2 
describes  a  leaflet  folded  in  a  piece  of  leather  and  worn 
as  a  charm.  It  is  inscribed  with  a  prayer  to  St.  Cyprian 
to  preserve  all  who  read  it,  wear  it,  or  put  it  in  their 
houses  or  on  beasts,  that  they  may  be  safe  from  the  Evil 
Eye,  from  the  shadows  of  night,  from  evil  spirits  lurking 
in  things  animate  or  inanimate,  in  food  or  drink.  This 
is  put  on  a  child  who  is  afraid  of  ghosts.  Among  the 
Arabs,  if  a  child  wish  to  be  delivered  from  nightmare 
and  its  terrors,  he  must  say  to  Allah,  “  I  take  refuge  in 
thee  from  the  evil  of  Satan.’5  3  Their  equivalent  for  the 
child- witch  is  called  Umm-el- Subyan.* 

1  Conybeare,  Jewish  Quarterly,  xi,  30.  On  Byzantine  amulets 
against  female  demons,  see  Schlumberger,  Melanges  d: Archeologie 
Byzantine,  117.  Hanauer  relates  ( P.E.F. ,  1904,  266)  the  tale  told  by 
a  Spanish  Jewess  about  the  spirit  of  La  Broosha  (a  form  of  Lilith),  who 
often  takes  the  shape  of  a  cat.  It  concerned  her  grandmother  at  the 
time  that  she  gave  birth  to  a  child,  the  mother  of  this  Jewess.  It  is 
a  custom  that  for  nine  days  after  a  birth  neither  mother  nor  child 
should  be  left  alone  in  a  room,  but  this  precaution  was  temporarily 
omitted.  The  woman  who  was  nursing  the  sick  mother  left  the  room, 
and  when  she  returned  the  patient  related  a  dream  of  a  great  black  cat 
having  come  into  the  room  and  turned  itself  into  ajar.  A  cat  mewed 
in  the  street  and  the  jar  became  a  cat  again.  It  came  to  the  bed, 
took  the  baby  and  went  to  the  window  and  said,  “  Shall  I  throw  ?  ” 
“  Throw,”  said  the  cat  outside.  This  happened  thrice  with  the  same 
answer,  and  the  cat  then  threw  the  baby  out  of  the  window  and 
disappeared  herself  at  the  entrance  of  the  nurse,  who  at  once  noticed 
the  baby  was  not  in  the  cradle.  In  order  not  to  alarm  the  mother  she 
explained  that  she  herself  had  taken  the  child,  and  then  dashed  out 
of  the  house  to  see  a  cat  crossing  a  field  with  a  babe  in  its  mouth.  As 
she  pursued  she  uttered  a  form  of  adjuration  which  forced  the  beast  to 
drop  the  child. 

2  P.E.F.,  1892,  318. 

3  Hadji  Khan,  With  Pilgrims  to  Mecca ,  44. 

4  Zwemer,  Arabia ,  283. 


THE  SEDU  AND  L AMASS U. 


43 


Doubtless  the  Dragon  of  Revelation,1  which  stood  before 
the  woman  in  travail,  is  to  be  placed  under  this  head ;  at 
any  rate,  the  Dragon  of  the  Testament  of  Solomon  has 
some  of  these  characteristics : 2  “  There  came  before  me 

a  dragon,  three-headed,  of  fearful  hue.  And  I  questioned 
him,  ‘Who  art  thou?’  And  he  answered  me,  ‘I  am 
a  caltrop-like  (t pt/SoAcuo?)  spirit,  whose  activity  is  in  three 
lines.  But  I  blind  children  in  women’s  wombs  and  twirl 
their  ears  round,  and  I  make  them  deaf  and  mute. 

Of  the  ahhazu ,  ‘  seizer,’  and  the  labasu  practically  nothing 
is  known,  unless  the  former  is  considered  to  be  the  same 
as  that  ahhazu  described  in  the  medical  texts,  where 

V  V 

a  man  may  be  ‘  filled  ’  by  a  disease  of  this  name.3 

Two  others  are  mentioned  in  the  cuneiform  magical 
texts,  the  sedu  and  lamassu.  The  former  may  be  the 
name  for  either  a  guardian  deity  or  an  evil  spirit.  As 
a  power  of  evil  it  is  found  in  an  invocation  beginning 
“  Spirit  ( sedu )  which  minisheth  heaven  and  earth,  which 
minisheth  the  land;  spirit  which  minisheth  the  land,  of 

giant  strength,  and  giant  tread. ”  4 

It  is  also  found  in  a  list  of  spirits,  before  the  Evil 
Eye’;5  or  is  described  as  an  ‘evil  genius  ( sedu ),6  and 
the  sixteenth  tablet  of  the  “  Evil  Spirits  begins 

i 

“  The  evil  gods  are  raging  storms, 

Ruthless  spirits  (sddu)  created  in  heaven  s  vault. 

It  is  exorcised  by  the  sick  man — 

“  0  Spirit  ( sedu )  that  standest  close  at  hand, 

At  my  cry  go  forth  therefrom  unto  the  street  ! 

!  xii  4  2  Ed.  Conybeare,  J.Q.,  xi,  29. 

3  Kuchler,  Assyr.-Babyl.  Medizin ,  60,  11.  28,  30,  31,  etc. 

*  Devils,  Tablet  V,  col.  iv,  1.  8  ff.  5  Ibid.,  Tablet  XVI,  1.  346. 

s  Ibid.,  Tablet  ‘  L,’  1.  5.  7  Ibid-.  Tablet  XVI,  1.  1. 


44 


THE  SED1M. 


0  Spirit  that  standeth  near, 

At  my  cry  go  forth  [therefrom  unto  the  street].”  1 

It  also  takes  its  place  with  the  utukku  and  rabisu — 

“  The  great  genius  ( sedu ),  spirit  and  fiend, 

Which  roam  the  broad  places  for  men.”  2 

“  The  evil  spirit  hath  lain  in  wait  in  the  desert,  unto  the  side  of 
the  man  [hath  drawn  nigh], 

The  evil  genius  (sSdu)  for  ever  is  rampant, 

And  none  can  [resist  him].”  3 

“  The  raging  genius,  the  evil  demon.” 4 

It  is  in  its  quality  as  an  evil  spirit  that  the  surrounding 
Semitic  nations  borrowed  the  word  from  the  Assyrians. 
It  occurs  as  nnw  in  Deut.  xxxii,  17,  and  Ps.  cvi,  37, 
and  in  Aramaic  l?!*  >  in  later  times  it  is  the 

T  •*  X 

subject  of  much  discussion  among  the  Fabbis.  For  instance, 
the  sedim  are  said  in  the  Talmud5  to  possess  six  quali¬ 
fications,  three  of  which  belong  to  man,  and  three  to  the 
angels,  for  though  they  eat,  drink,  multiply,  and  die  as 
men  do,  they  have  wings,  foreknowledge  of  the  future, 
and  can  traverse  the  world  from  one  end  to  the  other, 
just  like  the  angels.  Indeed,  according  to  some,  they 
can  assume  any  shape  and  form  they  like,  being  able  to 
see  without  being  seen  themselves.  Others  say  that  they 
were  begotten  by  two  angels  named  Aza  and  Azael  on 
Naamah,  the  daughter  of  Lamech,  before  the  Flood.6 

1  Ibid.,  Tablet  ‘  G,’  1.  14.  2  Ibid.,  Tablet  ‘  N,’  col.  i,  1.  9. 

3  Ibid.,  Tablet  ‘  T,’  1.  1. 

4  Tallqvist,  Maqlu ,  vii,  124.  Cf.  also  i,  136. 

5  Aboth ,  ed.  hodkinson,  i  (ix),  123. 

6  Sale,  Koran  (quoting  Zohar),  Prelim.  Discourse ,  sect.  iv. 


GUARDIAN  ANGELS. 


45 


But,  inasmuch  as  this  became  a  generic  term  in  late 
times  for  devils  generally,  it  will  be  more  expedient  to 
discuss  it  further  on  under  the  broader  view  of  super¬ 
natural  beings. 

The  sedu ,  however,  to  return  to  its  Assyrian  phase,  was 
also  looked  upon  as  a  beneficent  spirit,  thus  approximating 
to  the  idea  of  guardian  angels.  "W  ith  the  Icmyicissu ,  which 
appears  always  as  a  kindly  spirit,  it  is  appealed  to  at  the 
end  of  invocations,  both  being  frequently  invoked  to  be 
present  after  the  evil  spirit  has  been  cast  out.  The 
exorciser,  for  instance,  will  ban  the  evil  spirit  thus . 

“  May  the  god  Dubsag-Unug-ki,  the  patron  of  Kullabi, 

For  my  life  and  health  follow  after  me  ; 

A  kindly  Guardian  ( sedu )  marcheth  on  my  right, 

A  kindly  Spirit  ( lamassu )  marcheth  on  my  left.”  1 

“  When  I  draw  near  unto  the  sick  man, 

When  I  lay  my  hand  on  the  head  of  the  sick  man, 

May  a  kindly  Guardian  (sedu),  a  kindly  Spirit  ( lamassu )  stand  at 

my  side.”  2 

The  gods  perform  the  Incantation  of  the  Deep 

“  That  a  kindly  Guardian,  a  kindly  Spirit,  may  stand  at  the  side  of 
the  man,  the  son  of  his  god.”  3 

“  May  the  evil  Spirit  (utukku)  which  hath  seized  him  (the  sick  man) 
stand  aside, 

May  a  kindly  Guardian  (sSdu)  stand  at  his  head, 

May  a  kindly  Spirit  (lamassu)  stand  continually  at  his  side. 


1  Devils ,  i,  Tablet  III,  1.  88  fi. 

3  Ibid.,  Tablet  ‘  K,’  1.  205. 

4  Ibid.,  1.  220.  For  other  instances  cf. 
‘  N,’  iii,  1.  27  ;  vi,  1.  15  ;  xi,  1.  96. 


2  Ibid.,  1.  149. 
op.  cit.,  ii,  Tablet  ‘  L,’  1.  9  ; 


1 


46 


GUARDIAN  ANGELS. 


The  magician  ends  his  spell  with  a  prayer  to  Ea — 

“  Oh  that  thou  wert  my  guardian  Genius  ( sSdu ) 

And  my  guardian  Spirit  ( lamassu ).”  1 

While  on  the  subject  of  guardian  spirits,  it  will  here 
be  fitting  to  look  into  the  question  of  guardian  angels,  to 
see  how  far  the  Assyrian  beliefs  tally  with  those  of  the 
other  Semites.  The  Rabbis  maintained  that  every  man 
had  two  guardian  angels  who  accompanied  him.2  The 
Mohammedans  say  that  two  such  angels  attend  on  every 
man  to  observe  and  write  down  his  actions;3  according 
to  the  peasants  of  Palestine,  one  is  on  each  shoulder, 
and  they  are  greeted  at  the  end  of  every  prayer  by 
turning  towards  them,  right  and  left.  They  write  down 
every  deed  accomplished  during  the  daytime,  or  as  long  as 
the  person  is  awake.4  We  have  to  consider,  in  relation 
to  this,  the  two  phrases  which  so  constantly  occur  in 
cuneiform  religious  texts,  “  the  man,  son  of  his  god/'  and 
“  his  god  and  his  goddess,”  the  latter  occurring  frequently 
in  the  so-called  Penitential  Psalms.  The  former  is  to  be 
found  in  the  incantations,  and  seems  to  be  used  to  indicate 
that  the  man  really  has  a  god  as  his  protector  against  the 
evil  spirit  who  is  being  exorcised.  Thus  such  phrases  as : 
“  IJnto  the  man,  the  son  of  his  god,  come  not  nigh  ”  ; 5 
“  Until  thou  departest  from  the  man,  the  son  of  his  god  ”  ; 6 

1  Ibid.,  i,  Tablet  III,  1.  284  ff. 

3  Hag. ,  16a,  quoted  Jewish  Encyd. ,  sub  Angelology. 

3  Sale,  Koran ,  Prelim.  Disc.,  sect.  iv. 

4  Baldensperger,  P.E.F. ,  1893,  309.  On  the  question  of  the  relation 
of  ‘messengers’  or  ‘angels’  with  evil  spirits,  see  Jewish  Encycl., 
sub  voce. 

5  Devils ,  vol.  i,  Tablet  IV,  vi,  3  ff. 

6  Ibid.,  Tablet  V,  ii,  55  ;  iii,  37. 


THE  SEVEN  SPIRITS. 


47 


“From  the  man,  the  son  of  his  god,  may  they  depart 
from  his  body,”  1  etc.,  are  common,  but  tbe  reference 
is  doubtless  to  a  particular  god  to  whom  tbe  man  bas 
attached  himself  either  by  local  influence  or  family  tradition, 
or,  when  we  consider  tbe  extraordinary  number  of  god- 
names  used  in  composite  personal  names,  we  may  perhaps 
assume  that  tbe  man  thought  himself  to  be  under  the 
segis  of  such  god  as  formed  a  component  of  bis  name.  It 
is  more  likely,  if  we  are  to  see  any  reference  to  ‘  guardian 
angels’  in  Assyrian  literature,  that  we  shall  find  it  in 
the  phrase  “bis  god  and  bis  goddess.”  “He  that  bath  no 
god,”  we  are  told  in  an  incantation  against  Headache,2 
“Headache  will  seize  on  his  body  when  be  walketb  in 
tbe  street.” 

In  addition  to  tbe  Assyrian  demons  known  by  distinctive 
names,  there  are  the  'Seven  Spirits’  which  combine  in 
their  persons  almost  all  the  traditional  Eastern  ideas  of 
jinn ,  aghwaly  and  afcirit. 

“  Seven  are  they  !  Seven  are  they  ! 

In  the  Ocean  Deep,  seven  are  they  ! 

Battening  in  Heaven,  seven  are  they  ! 

Bred  in  the  depths  of  the  Ocean  ; 

Nor  male  nor  female  are  they, 

But  are  as. the  roaming  wind-blast, 

No  wife  have  they,  no  son  can  they  beget ; 

Knowing  neither  mercy  nor  pity, 

They  hearken  not  to  prayer  or  supplication. 

They  are  as  horses  reared  amid  the  hills, 

The  Evil  Ones  of  Ea  ; 

Throne-bearers  to  the  gods  are  they, 

They  stand  in  the  highway  to  befoul  the  path  ; 


1  Ibid.,  iii,  47. 


2  Ibid.,  Tablet  IX,  194. 


48 


THE  SEVEN  SPIRITS. 


Evil  are  they,  evil  are  they  ! 

Seven  are  they,  seven  are  they, 

Twice  seven  are  they  !  ”  1 

“  Destructive  storms  (and)  evil  winds  are  they,2 
An  evil  blast  that  heraldeth 3  the  baneful  storm, 

An  evil  blast,  forerunner  of  the  baneful  storm. 

They  are  mighty  children,  mighty  sons, 

Heralds  of  the  Pestilence. 

Throne-bearers  of  Ereskigal, 

They  are  the  flood  which  rusheth  through  the  land. 
Seven  gods  of  the  broad  earth, 

Seven  robber  (?)-gods  are  they, 

Seven  gods  of  might, 

Seven  evil  gods, 

Seven  evil  demons, 

Seven  evil  demons  of  oppression, 

Seven  in  heaven  and  seven  on  earth.”  4 

‘  ‘  Spirits  that  minish  heaven  and  earth, 

That  minish  the  land, 

Spirits  that  minish  the  land, 

Of  giant  strength, 

Of  giant  strength  and  giant  tread, 

Demons  (like)  raging  bulls,  great  ghosts, 

Ghosts  that  break  through  all  houses, 

Demons  that  have  no  shame, 

Seven  are  they  ! 

Knowing  no  care,  they  grind  the  land  like  corn  ; 
Knowing  no  mercy,  they  rage  against  mankind, 
They  spill  their  blood  like  rain, 


1  Ibid.,  Tablet  V,  col.  v,  1.  28. 

2  Maury,  La  Magie ,  102,  quoting  Clem.  Alex.,  Stromat.,  vi 
(ed.  Potter,  ii,  754),  says  that  pestilences,  tempests,  and  hail 
regarded  as  the  work  of  demons,  and  this  superstition  continued 
almost  all  the  Christians  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

3  Literally  ‘  beholdeth.’ 

4  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits,  i,  Tablet  V ,  col.  ii,  1.  6o  ft. 


THE  SEVEN  SPIRITS. 


49 


Devouring  their  flesh  (and)  sucking  their  veins. 

They  are  demons  full  of  violence,  ceaselessly  devouringdblood.”  1 

“  Warriors  twice  seven  are  they, 

That  in  a  single  (?)  spawning  in  the  creation  of  Anu  were 
spawned  ; 

They  are  the  roaming  wind-blast. 

No  wife  have  they,  no  son  do  they  beget ; 

Sense  they  know  not.”  2 


“  From  land  to  land  they  roam, 

Driving  the  maid  from  her  chamber, 

Sending  the  man  forth  from  his  home, 

Expelling  the  son  from  the  house  of  his  father, 
Hunting  the  pigeons  from  their  cotes, 

Driving  the  bird  from  its  nest, 

Making  the  swallow  fly  forth  from  its  hole, 

Smiting  both  oxen  and  sheep. 

They  are  the  evil  spirits  that  chase  the  great  storms, 
Bringing  a  blight  on  the  land.”  3 

“  Through  the  gloomy  street  by  night  they  roam, 
[Smiting]  sheepfold  and  cattle-pen. 

The  land  [as  with  door  and  ?]  bolt  they  [shut  up], 

In  the  city  like  a  snare  they  are  set, 

Through  the  door  like  a  snake  they  glide, 

Through  the  hinge  like  the  wind  they  blow, 
Estranging  the  wife  from  the  embrace  of  a  husband, 
Snatching  the  child  from  the  loins  4  of  a  man.”  5 

“  They  creep  like  a  snake  on  their  bellies, 

They  make  the  chamber  to  stink  like  mice, 

They  give  tongue  like  a  pack  of  hounds.  6 

“  Rending  above,  bringing  destruction  below, 

They  are  the  children  of  the  underworld} 

Loudly  roaring  above,  gibbering  below, 

They  are  the  bitter  venom  of  the  gods  ; 


Ibid.,  col.  iv,  1.  8. 

Ibid.,  Tablet  IV,  col.  i,  1.  24  ff. 
Ibid.,  col.  ii,  1.  12  fi. 


Ibid.,  col.  iv,  1.  60  ff. 
Literally  ‘  knees.’ 

Ibid.,  Tablet ‘C,’  1.  213  ff. 


50 


THE  SEVEN  SPIRITS. 


They  are  the  great  storms  directed  from  heaven, 

They  are  the  owls  which  hoot  over  a  city, 

They  are  the  children  born  of  earth, 

That  in  the  creation  of  Anu  were  spawned. 

Over  the  highest  wall  and  through  the  thickest  wall, 

Like  a  storm  flood  they  can  pass. 

Breaking  through  from  house  to  house  ; 

No  door  can  shut  them  out,  no  bolt  can  turn  them  back.”  1 2 

These  Seven  Spirits  reappear  in  later  times,  both  in 
Syriac  and  in  Palestinian  magic.  The  tradition  of  the 
Unclean  Spirit  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke  (xi,  24)  un¬ 
doubtedly  echoes  this  Assyrian  poem  :  “  The  unclean  spirit, 
when  he  is  gone  out  of  the  man,  passeth  through 
waterless  places,  seeking  rest ;  and  finding  none,  he 
saith,  I  will  turn  back  unto  my  house  whence  I  came  out. 
And  when  he  is  come,  he  findeth  it  swept  and  garnished. 
Then  goeth  he,  and  taketh  to  him  seven  other  spirits 
more  evil  than  himself.”  But  we  have  a  still  more  curious 
tradition  in  Syriac  which  describes  the  Seven  Spirits  almost 
exactly  as  they  were  known  to  the  earlier  inhabitants  of 
Mesopotamia. 

“  \_For~\  the  fold  of  cattle? 

“ ‘  Seven  accursed  brothers,  accursed  sons  !  destructive 
“  ‘  ones,  sons  of  men  of  destruction  !  Why  do  you  creep 
“  ‘  along  on  your  knees  and  move  upon  your  hands  P  ’ 

1  Ibid.,  Tablet  Y,  col.  i,  1.  10. 

2  What  is  evidently  a  similar  charm  in  Assyrian  for  cattle  is  given 
in  W.A.I.,  iv,  18,  6 

“  The  evil  demon,  the  evil  devil  seek  the  resting-place  (for  sheep) 
in  the  desert,  destroying  the  resting-place  like  nusu. 

The  Asakku  casteth  down  in  the  horses’  stable, 

It  hath  filled  the  mouth  of  the  asses  with  dust,  and  estrangeth 
their  matrix, 


THE  SEVEN  SPIRITS. 


51 


“And  they  replied,  ‘We  go  on  our  hands,  so  that  we  may 
“  ‘  eat  flesh,  and  we  crawl  along  upon  our  hands,  so  that 
“  ‘  we  may  drink  blood.’  As  soon  as  I  saw  it,  I  pre- 
“  vented  them  from  devouring,  and  I  cursed  and  bound 
“  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
“  Ghost,  saying :  ‘  May  you  not  proceed  on  your  way,  nor 
u  ‘  finish  your  journey,  and  may  God  break  your  teeth, 
“  ‘  and  cut  the  veins  of  your  neck,  and  the  sinews  thereof, 
“  ‘  that  you  approach  not  the  sheep  nor  the  oxen  of  the 
“  f  person  who  carries  [sc.  these  writs]  !  I  bind  you  in 
“  ‘  the  name  of  Gabriel  and  Michael,  I  bind  you  by  that 
“  ‘  angel  who  judged  the  woman  that  combed  (the  hair 
“  ‘  of)  her  head  on  the  eve  of  Holy  Sunday.  May  they 
“  ‘  vanish  as  smoke  from  before  the  wind  for  ever  and 
“  f  ever,  Amen.’  ”  1 

Beliar  sends  seven  evil  spirits  against  man.2  In  Rev.  xv,  6, 

The  ass  in  foal,  the  ass  that  beareth,  it  maketh  cast  their  young, 
The  little  ass  yet  un weaned  it  will  not  [let  suck]  the  milk, 

In  their  fold  it  [bringeth]  woe, 

A  kindly  spirit  (?)  in  the  pen  hath  passed  (?)  and 
...  to  the  side  climbeth  (?) 

Marduk,  son  of  Eridu, 

.  .  .  when  he  cometh,  casteth  a  glance  at  this  sheep-pen  and 
Unto  his  father  Ea,  unto  the  house  entereth  and  saith — 

‘[Father],  the  Plague-god  (?)  roameth  the  desert  like  a  hurricane.5 
[Ea  hath  answered  him  :  ‘  What  I,’  etc.]  :  ‘  Go,  my  son,’ 

.  .  .  take  the  urigallu, 

.  .  .  open  the  pen, 

.  .  ride  ...” 

In  Arab  lore  beasts  are  able  to  perceive  the  approach  of  spirits. 
Cocks  crow  and  asses  bray,  and  with  this  Wellhausen  compares  the 
story  of  Balaam’s  ass  ( Reste ,  151). 

1  H.  Gollancz,  Selection  of  Charms ,  87. 

2  Testament  of  Twelve  Patriarchs ,  Reub.  2,  quoted  Charles,  The 
Ascension  of  Isaiah ,  7. 


52 


THE  SEVEN  SPIRITS. 


there  is  mention  of  “  seven  angels  that  had  the  seven 
plagues,' ”  and  we  may  surely  see  some  echo  of  the  seven 
evil  spirits  in  “  These  things  saith  he  that  hath  the  seven 
Spirits  of  God,  and  the  seven  stars  ”  ; 1  “  And  there  were 
seven  lamps  of  fire  burning  before  the  throne,  which  are 
the  seven  Spirits  of  God.”2  Again,  between  the  seven 
Assyrian  spirits  and  the  seven  devas  or  arch-demons  of 
Zoroastrianism  there  must  undoubtedly  be  some  connection.3 

The  curious  description  of  these  spirits  as  throne-bearers 
explains  the  tradition  of  the  Hayyot,  in  the  late  Hebrew 
theology,  who  carry  God’s  Throne.4  Moreover,  there  is  a 
class  of  angels  in  Mohammedanism,  called  Throne-bearers, 
who  are  said  to  be  at  present  four,  but  on  the  day  of 
resurrection  they  will  be  strengthened  by  an  additional 
four,  who  will  then  bear  the  throne  of  God  above  them.5 

Their  predilection  for  human  blood,  as  described  in  the 
cuneiform  incantation,  is  in  keeping  with  all  the  traditions 
of  the  grisly  mediseval  vampires.  In  an  Etliiopic  charm 
an  invocation  is  thus  made:  “  Thus  make  perish,  0  Lord, 
all  demons  and  evil  spirits  who  eat  flesh  and  drink  blood: 
who  crush  the  bones  and  seduce  the  children  of  men  ; 
drive  them  away,  O  Lord,  by  the  power  of  these  thy  names 
and  by  the  prayer  of  thy  holy  Disciples,  from  thy  servant.”  6 

To  the  seven  evil  spirits  was  due  the  eclipse  of  the 
moon.  The  sixteenth  tablet  of  the  series  “  Evil  Spirits  ” 
describes  how  the  Seven  Spirits  attacked  the  Moon-god  and 

1  Rev.  iii,  1.  2  Eev.  iv,  5.  Cf.  also  v,  6. 

3  Encycl.  Bibl.,  1073. 

4  On  the  subject  of  angels  carrying  the  prayers  of  men  to  the  Throne 

of  God,  see  Tobit  xii,  12,  15  ;  Baruch,  Apoc.,  Gk.,  xi. 

5  Koran ,  Surahs  xl,  lxix.  Cf.  Klein,  Rel.  of  Islam,  66. 

6  Littmann,  J.A.O.S. ,  xxv,  35. 


ECLIPSES. 


53 


dimmed  his  light,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  this  was 
a  popular  explanation  of  such  a  phenomenon.  Although 
it  must  be  admitted  that  their  attack  is  made  against  the 
crescent  of  the  moon,  as  the  Assyrian  text  runs,  this  is 
probably  due  to  poetic  licence,  and  is  not  a  serious  bar 
to  the  rational  explanation  of  this  text,  which,  after  all, 
only  reiterates  the  common  savage  belief.  The  modern 
Semite  is  as  certain  of  this  as  were  his  ancestors,  and  it  is 
a  common  custom  nowadays  for  the  township  to  turn  out 
with  every  noisy  kitchen  implement  they  can  lay  hands  on 
to  drive  away  the  spirits  attacking  the  moon.  Doughty,1 
while  at  Teima,  saw  the  housewives  making  great  clamour 
of  pots  and  pans  “  to  help  the  labouring  planet  ”  in  its 
eclipse.  In  the  Malay  Peninsula  the  Besisi  do  the  same,2 
and  the  Mohammedans  of  Macedonia,  considering  an  eclipse 
a  portent  of  bloodshed,  meet  it  with  reports  of  firearms.3 
From  St.  Maxime  de  Turin 4  it  is  evident  that  even  the 
Christians  of  his  time  admitted  that  it  was  necessary  to 
raise  a  hubbub  during  eclipses  to  prevent  magicians  hurting 
the  moon.5 


1  Arabia  Deserta ,  i,  289.  On  noise  driving  evil  spirits  away  see 
Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  iii,  66,  91 ;  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture ,  4th  ed., 
i,  329.  The  later  Hebrews  drove  off  the  sedim  at  funerals  by  blowing  a 
sAo/ar- trumpet  (Yalk.,  Hadash ,  Mita,  47,  quoted  Jewish  Encycl. ,  iv,  520). 

2  Skeat  and  Blagden,  Pagan  Races ,  ii,  298. 

3  Abbott,  Macedonian  Folklore ,  72. 

*  Homil.  (1618),  703,  quoted  Maury,  La  Magie,  182. 

5  The  belief  in  a  dragon  or  fish  that  swallows  the  moon  is  curiously 
widespread.  The  Metawileh  have  this  superstition  (Fallscheer,  P.E.F. , 
1889,  130)  ;  so  also  the  Peruvians  ;  and  the  South  Sea  Islanders  hold 
that  the  Sun  and  Moon  have  been  swallowed  by  an  offended  deity 
whom  they  induced  by  liberal  offerings  to  eject  the  luminaries  from  his 
stomach  (Tylor,  Prim.  Cult.,  4th  ed.,  329  ff).  When  it  is  remembered 
that  Jonah  was  swallowed  by  the  “great  fish”  for  three  days  (the 
period  of  the  moon’s  disappearance  at  the  end  of  the  month)  the 


54 


ECLIPSES. 


The  Assyrian  text  runs — 

“  The  Evil  Gods  are  raging  storms, 

Ruthless  spirits  created  in  the  vault  of  heaven  ; 

Workers  of  woe  are  they, 

That  each  day  raise  their  wicked  heads  for  evil. 

To  wreak  destruction  .  .  . 

Of  these  Seven  [the  first]  is  the  South  Wind  .  .  . 

The  second  is  a  dragon  with  mouth  agape, 

That  none  can  [withstand  ?]. 

The  third  is  a  grim  leopard  which  carries  off  (?)  young  (?)... 

The  fourth  is  a  terrible  serpent  .  .  . 

The  fifth  is  a  furious  beast  (?)  after  which  no  restraint  (?)... 

The  sixth  is  a  rampant  .  .  .  which  against  God  and  king  .  .  . 

The  seventh  is  an  evil  wind -storm  which  ... 1 
These  seven  are  the  messengers  of  Anu,  the  king, 

Bearing  gloom  from  city  to  city, 

Tempests  that  furiously  scour  the  heavens, 

Dense  clouds  that  bring  gloom  over  the  sky , 

Rushing  wind-gusts,  casting  darkness  over  the  brightest  day, 
Forcing  their  way  with  the  baneful  wind-storms. 

Mighty  destroyers  are  they,  the  deluge  of  the  Storm-god, 

Stalking  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Storm-god. 

In  the  foundation  of  heaven  like  lightning  they  [flash], 

To  wreak  destruction  they  lead  the  way. 

In  heaven’s  breadth,  the  home  of  Anu,  the  king, 

They  take  their  stand  for  evil,  and  none  oppose.” 

coincidence  is  worth  considering.  Jonah  is  the  Hebrew  woid  foi 
‘  dove,’  and  it  was  at  Harran,  the  city  sacred  to  the  Moon-god,  that  the 
dove  was  not  sacrificed  (Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  Semites ,  quoting 
Al-Nadim,  294). 

1  Compare  the  devils  sent  to  St.  Anthony  in  the  Syriac  Paradise  of 
the  Fathers  (ed.  Budge,  1907,  i,  14)  :  “Now  it  is  very  easy  for  the 
Enemy  to  create  apparitions  and  appearances  of  such  a  character 
that  they  shall  be  deemed  real  and  actual  objects,  and  [straightway] 
phantasms  of  this  kind  caused  a  phantom  earthquake,  and  they  rent 
asunder  the  four  corners  of  the  house,  and  entered  therein  in  a  body 
from  all  sides.  One  had  the  form  of  a  lion,  and  another  had  the 
appearance  of  a  wolf,  and  another  was  like  unto  a  panther,  and  all  the 
others  were  in  the  forms  and  similitudes  of  serpents,  and  of  vipers,  and 
of  scorpions.” 


ECLIPSES. 


55 


The  tablet  goes  on  to  relate  how  these  seven  spirits 
attacked  the  Moon-god,  and  Bel,  hearing  of  the  mischief 
they  had  done,  sent  his  servant  Nuzku  to  take  counsel  with 

Ea  against  them — 

“  0  my  minister,  Nuzku  ! 

Bear  my  message  unto  the  Ocean  Deep, 

Tell  unto  Ea  in  the  Ocean  Deep 

The  tidings  of  my  son  Sin,  the  Moon-god, 

Who  in  heaven  hath  been  grievously  bedimmed.” 

Ea  heard  the  message  which  Nuzku  brought,  and  bit  his 
lip  in  grief;  he  summoned  his  son  Marduk  and  conveyed  to 

him  the  tidings  of  the  Moon-god. 

After  this  the  tablet  becomes  mutilated  for  ten  lines, 
and,  when  it  recommences,  it  gives  the  directions  for  the 
sick  man’s  treatment.  Evidently  this  connection  of  an 
eclipse  of  the  moon  with  disease  lends  itself  to  the  explanation 
that  certain  sicknesses  were  due,  indirectly  at  least,  to  such 
phenomena,  or  at  any  rate  that  mankind  was  peculiarly 
susceptible  to  such  attacks  during  the  moon’s  disappearance. 
Many  indeed  were  the  prayers  made  to  avert  the  evil 
from  an  eclipse  ;  in  certain  of  the  “  Prayers  of  the  Lifting 
of  the  Hand”  we  find  the  phrase  “in  the  evil  of  an 
eclipse  of  the  moon  which  in  such  and  such  a  month  on  such 
and  such  a  day  has  taken  place,  in  the  evil  of  the  powers, 
of  the  portents,  evil  and  not  good  which  are  in  my 
palace  and  my  land.”1  The  following  is  a  prayer  offered 
up  by  Samas-sum-ukin,  the  brother  of  Assurbanipal,  against 
the  evil  of  an  eclipse  of  the  moon,  which  has  apparently 
been  foretold  from  preceding  events  : — 


i  King,  Bab.  Magic  and  Sorcery ,  xxv. 


56 


THE  SEVEN  SPIRITS. 


“  .  .  .  0  great  lady,  kindly  mother, 

Amid  the  many  stars  of  heaven 
Thou  art  mistress  .  .  . 

I,  Samas-sum-ukin,  the  king,  servant  of  his  god. 

Vicegerent  of  his  god  Marduk  (and)  his  goddess  Sarpanitum, 

Of  the  evils  of  the  eclipse  of  the  moon,  fixed  for  the  fifteenth 
day  of  Shebat, 

Of  the  evils  of  the  signs  and  omens,  evil,  baneful, 

Which  have  occurred  in  my  palace  and  my  land, 

I  am  afraid,  and  I  fear,  and  I  tremble  ! 

Let  not  these  evils  draw  near  to  me  or  my  house  ! 

Accept  the  upuntu- plant  from  me  and  receive  my  prayer.”  1 

There  is  a  long  tablet  which  gives  more  details  of  these 
seven  demons  which  the  Fire-god  is  supposed  to  relate  to 
his  friend  Marduk — 

“  Those  seven  were  born  in  the  Mountain  of  Sunset, 

And  were  reared  in  the  Mountain  of  Dawn, 

They  dwell  within  the  caverns  of  the  earth, 

And  amid  the  desolate  places  of  the  earth  they  live. 

Unknown  in  heaven  and  earth, 

-  They  are  arrayed  with  terror, 

Among  the  wise  gods  there  is  no  knowledge  of  them, 

They  have  no  name  in  heaven  or  earth  ; 

Those  seven  gallop  over  the  Mountain  of  Sunset, 

And  on  the  Mountain  of  Dawn  they  cry  ; 

Through  the  caverns  of  the  earth  they  creep, 

(And)  amid  the  desolate  places  of  the  earth  they  lie. 

Nowhere  are  they  known,  in  heaven  nor  earth  are  they 
discovered.”  2 

In  the  Syriac  Sayings  of  the  Holy  Fathers  certain  monks 
hear  the  voices  of  devils  in  the  air  as  they  are  praying 
with  the  sounds  of  armour,  horses,  and  many  horsemen.3 

1  Scheil,  Une  Saison  de  fouilles,  96. 

2  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits ,  vol.  i,  Tablet  ‘  K,’  1.  84  ff. 

3  Ed.  Budge,  The  Paradise  of  the  Fathers ,  1907,  ii,  208. 


57 


THE  JINN. 

i 

The  Jinn  and  kindred  spirits  of  the  Arabs  have  all  the 
characteristics  of  the  various  demons  of  Assyrian  times. 
They  are  corporeal  beings,  more  like  beasts  than  men,  for 
they  are  ordinarily  represented  as  hairy,  or  have  some 

animal  shape,  such  as  that  of  an  ostrich  or  snake. . If 

a  jinni  is  killed,  a  solid  carcase  remains,  but  they  have 
certain  mysterious  powers  of  appearing,  or  of  temporarily 
assuming  human  form,1  and  when  they  are  offended  they 
can  avenge  themselves-  by  sending  disease  or  madness.2 
“They  have,  for  the  most  part,  no  friendly  or  stated 
relations  with  men,3  but  are  outside  the  pale  of  man  s 
society,  and  frequent  savage  and  deserted  places  far  from 
the  wonted  tread  of  men.  It  appears  from  several  poetical 
passages  of  the  Old  Testament  that  the  Northern  Semites 
believed  in  demons  of  a  precisely  similar  kind,  hairy 
beings4  ( se'irim ),  nocturnal  monsters  ( lilith ),°  which  haunted 
waste  and  desolate  places  in  fellowship  with  jackals  and 
ostriches.”  They  can  eat,  drink,  and  propagate  their 
species,  and  are  even  subject  to  death,6  so  that  they 
correspond  to  the  Hebrew  sedim  in  certain  respects. 

1  Inversely,  the  Seicar  in  Hadramaut,  in  time  of  drought,  can 
change  to  were-wolves.  Makrizi,  De  Valle  Hadramaut ,  19,  quoted 
Robertson  Smith,  Rel.  Sem .,  88. 

2  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites ,  1894,  120. 

3  But  they  do  meet  on  certain  grounds.  See  ibid.,  128. 

4  Compare  the  Mohammedan  story  of  Bilkis,  Queen  of  Sheba,  who 
married'-  Solomon.  She  had  hair  on  her  ankles  and  was  thus  shown  to 
be  a  jinniyyah  by  descent  ( Jewish  Encycl. ,  i,  605).  Maimonides,  in  his 
Guide  to  the  Perplexed ,  says :  u  Some  sects  among  the  Sabeans 
worshipped  demons,  and  imagined  that  these  assumed  the  forms  of 
goats,  and  called  them  therefore  ‘  goats  5  ”  (iii,  xlvi).  On  the  S’lrim 
see  Baudissin,  Studien ,  137. 

5  But  see  p.  66. 

6  Klein,  Religion  of  Islam ,  67. 


58 


THE  JINN. 


The  demons  of  the  Rabbinic  tradition  ( sedhn  or  mazzikin) 
are  said  to  have  been  created  by  the  Almighty.  “  He 
had  created  their  souls,  and  was  about  to  create  their 
bodies  when  the  Sabbath  set  in,  and  he  did  not  create 
them.” 1  As  to  their  numbers,  it  is  said  that  Agrath 
bath  Mahlath  2  haunts  the  air  with  her  train  of  eighteen 
myriads  of  messengers  of  destruction  on  the  eves  of 
Wednesdays  and  Saturdays.  After  creating  the  earth 
God  peopled  it  with  Jinn  before  placing  Adam  there ; 
“  He  created  them  of  fire  clear  from  smoke,”  3  and  among 
them  was  Iblis.4  Half  of  the  Jinn  are  good  and  half 
are  malignant  beings,  and  they  inhabit  the  seven  stages 
which  form  the  edifice  of  the  underworld,5  just  as  the 
Babylonian  demons  lived  in  Ekurra.6  Malignity  of  the 
soil  is  ascribed  by  the  Arabs  to  the  ground  demons  or  earth- 
folk,  so  that  husbandmen  sprinkle  new  ploughland  with 
the  blood  of  a  peace-offering ;  similarly,  when  they  build 
they  sprinkle  blood  on  the  stones,  lest  the  workmen’s 
lives  should  be  endangered.7  Again,  while  still  on  the 
subject  of  sacrificing  to  Jinn,  when  the  people  of  Kerak 
go  into  the  harvest-fields  they  often  occupy  caves,  but 
not  until  they  have  killed  a  sacrifice  at  the  entrance  to 
the  spirits.8  When  the  natives  of  Hamath  repair  the 
largest  water-wheel  there,  they  sacrifice  a  ram  to  the 
Afrit  who  inhabits  the  sluice,  before  re-starting  it,  in 
order  to  propitiate  him.  Otherwise,  someone  is  sure  to  be 


1  Bereshith  Rabbet,  vii. 

2  Pesachim,  1126  (Jew.  Encycl .,  516). 

3  Koran,  Surah  lv.  4  Mas‘udi,  Prairies  d’or ,  i,  50. 

5  Doughty,  Arabia  Deserta ,  i,  259.  6  Devils ,  ii,  Tablet  ‘  P.’ 

7  Doughty,  op.  cit.,  i,  136.  8  Curtiss,  Bill.  World ,  xxi,  253. 


THE  JINN. 


59 


killed  by  tbe  wheel  in  the  sluice-way.1  Leviticus  xvii,  7, 
has  some  bearing  on  this  subject :  “  And  they  shall  no 

more  sacrifice  their  sacrifices  unto  the  he-goats  (or  satyrs, 
i.e.  s’irim,  Jinn),  after  whom  they  go  a-whoring.” 

An  Egyptian  will  commonly  exclaim  “  Destoor  ”  when 
pouring  forth  water  or  other  liquids  on  the  ground,  thereby 
asking  permission  or  craving  pardon  of  any  Jinn  that 
mio-ht  be  there,2  and  this  reverence  is  to  be  found  among 
the  Yezidis,  who  fear  to  scald  the  “  little  devils.” 3  According 
to  Palestinian  tradition,  a  certain  man  was  killed  by  the 
Jan  because  he  passed  water  on  their  heads  through  a  fissure 

in  the  field.4 

At  Calirrhoe  (Zerka  Ma‘in)  there  is  a  jinui ,  who  is 
also  called  a  well ,  who  lives  below  the  ground  to  keep 
the  fire  going  which  heats  the  hot  spring.5 6  There  is 
a  rather  different  tradition  concerning  one  of  the  hot  springs 
in  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula.  This  is  the  Hammam  Faraun 
(‘  Pharaoh’s  bath’),  and  the  grumblings  and  muttermgs 
which  can  be  heard  at  the  mouth  of  the  cavern  neai  the 
exit  of  the  hot  stream  are  the  groans  uttered  by  Pharaoh 
and  his  dead  host  writhing  on  the  coals  in  the  place  of 

the  damned. 

The  Jinn  ride  on  foxes,  gazelles,  and  porcupines,  but 
avoid  the  hare  because  it  is  supposed  to  menstruate. K  When 
a  herd  of  camels  refuses  to  drink,  the  Arabs  will  sometimes 
beat  the  male  beasts  on  the  back  to  drive  away  the  Jinn, 


1  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Rel .,  198. 

2  Lane,  Manners  and  Customs ,  1890,  203. 

3  A.  V.  Williams  Jackson,  Persia ,  12. 

4  Baldensperger,  P.E.F. ,  1893,  205.  • 

5  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Rel .,  89,  198. 

6  Sihah  (quoted  Robertson  Smith,  Kinship ,  240). 


60 


THE  GHOUL. 


who  are  riding  them  and  frightening  the  females.1 
Eccentric  movements  of  a  dust  whirlwind  are  supposed 
to  be  the  visible  signs  of  a  battle  between  two  clans  of 
Jinn,2  and  in  the  Eastern  Soudan,  among  the  Bisharin, 
I  have  heard  these  tourbillons  of  dust  called  eructationes 
dcemoniim.  The  Bedouin  of  East  Africa  stab  the  centre 
of  a  dust-storm  with  their  creeses  in  order  to  drive  away 
the  evil  spirit  which  is  believed  to  be  riding  on  the 
blast.3  Hughes  says  that  the  Arabs  exclaim  Hadicl ! 
hadid  !  “  Iron  !  iron  !  ”  when  doing  this.4 

The  Jinn  may  c  possess  ’  a  person,  and  hence  the  word 
majnun ,  a  madman ;  the  Palestinian  belief  is  stated  in 
John  x,  20:  “He  hath  a  devil,  and  is  mad.” 

The  ghoul  is  another  Arab  spirit.  According  to  Doughty  5 
her  appearance  is  as  follows  : — “  A  Cyclops’  eye  set  in 
the  midst  of  her  human-like  head,  long  beak  of  jaws,  in 
the  ends  one  or  two  great  sharp  tushes,  long  neck ;  her 
arms  like  chickens’  fledgeling  wings,  the  fingers  of  her 
hands  not  divided ;  the  body  big  as  a  camel’s,  but  in 
shape  as  the  ostrich ;  the  sex  is  only  feminine,  she  has 
a  foot  as  the  ass’  hoof 6  and  a  foot  as  an  ostrich.  She 
entices  passengers,  calling  to  them  over  the  waste  by 
their  names,  so  that  they  think  it  is  their  own  mother’s 
or  their  sister’s  voice.”  One  of  the  Arabs  had  seen  this 
beast,  “  which  is  of  the  Jin  kind,  lie  dead  upon  the  land 

1  Certeux  and  Carnoy,  Id  A  Igerie  /Traditionelle,  quoted  Frazer,  G.B., 
iii,  129. 

2  Yakut,  iii,  478.  3  See  Conybeare,  J.Q.,  ix,  461. 

4  Diet,  of  Islam,  136. 

5  Arabia  Deserta ,  i,  53  ;  see  the  picture  on  54. 

6  Cf.  Origen,  quoted  Conybeare,  Jewish  Quarterly ,  ix,  100  :  “As 

many  demons  as  live  in  dry  places  and  have  their  bodies  rather  dry  as 
are,  they  say,  the  demons  with  donkey’s  legs.” 


/ 


THE  MARED. 


61 


upon  a  time  when  he  rode  with  a  foray  in  the  Jeheyna 
marches.”  This  is  rather  like  the  picture  of  the  Ethiopic 
devils  in  the  Lives  of  Maba  Seydn  and  Gabra  Krestos 
(ed.  Budge),  p.  xxxiii,  which  have  horns,  tails,  and  wings, 
their  right  foot  being  a  claw  and  the  left  a  hoof.  According 
to  the  Hebrew  tradition,  demons  proverbially  had  cocks’ 
feet.1  “He  who  wishes  to  know  about  them  must  take 
sifted  ashes,  and  sprinkle  them  by  his  bedside,  and  in 
the  morning  he  will  see  marks  as  of  cocks’  feet.  He  who 
wishes  to  see  them  must  take  the  foetus  of  a  black  she- 
cat,  itself  a  black  one  :  a  first-born,  the  daughter  of 
a  firstborn :  and  burn  it  in  the  fire,  and  pulverise  it,  and 
fill  his  eyes  with  it,  and  he  will  see  them.”  2  The  ashes 
of  a  black  cat  are  a  popular  form  of  magicians’  stock-in- 
trade  in  the  modern  Arabic  books  on  sorcery,  and  the 
directions  run,  to  take  a  black  cat,  of  deep  blackness, 
without  any  white  in  it,  and  take  nothing  of  it  but 
its  heart ;  then  to  take  swallows,  which  are  called  ‘  birds 
of  paradise/  and  burn  them  until  they  become  ashes. 
This  ash  will  be  of  the  greatest  service  in  magic.3 

Of  other  Arab  demons  there  is  the  Mared ,  a  tall 
spirit  which  generally  appears  when  someone  has  been 
killed.4  To  lay  the  Mared,  dust  is  sprinkled  by  the 
manslayer  over  the  blood  of  his  victim.5  It  snatches 
away  a  bride,  in  the  story  of  Abu  Mohammed  the  Lazy, 
in  the  Arabian  Nights. 

1  Jewish  Encycl .,  article  Asmodeus,  ii,  218. 

2  Berakhoth ,  6 a  ;  see  Blau,  Das  Altjiidische  Zauberwesen ,  11,  where 
references  are  given  for  demons  having  cocks’  feet  and  no  shadow. 

3  MS.  (modern)  which  I  bought  in  Mosul. 

4  Balden sperger,  P.E.F.,  1893,  206  ;  ibid.,  1899,  149.  Robinson  Lees, 
Village  Life  in  Palestine ,  217. 

5  Lees,  loc.  cit. 


62 


THE  KIRI)  AND  HAS  SAD. 


The  Kird  is  another  spirit.  One  day  it  sat  upon  the 
shoulders  of  a  man,  and  when  he  arrived  at  his  village 
he  was  dumb.  But  by  the  Khatib  of  the  village  ordering 
him  to  perspire  and  read  the  pain  away  for  seven  days, 
he  recovered  his  speech,  but  remained  a  stammerer.1 

The  Rassad  is  generally  the  guardian  of  some  treasure, 
and  may  take  the  form  of  a  man,  colt,  cock,  or  chicken 
with  young  ;  he  haunts  almost  all  caves.  There  is  a  story 
of  a  man  in  Safrie  being  told  by  an  Algerian  that  a  stone 
in  his  courtvard  contained  a  treasure,  but  it  could  not 
be  obtained  without  his  wife’s  blood.  They  resolved  to 
kill  her,  but  while  she  was  killing  a  cock  for  supper  she 
cut  her  finger  over  the  stone,  and,  on  the  blood  dropping 
thereon,  the  gold  came  forth.2  The  idea  that  devils  are 
guardians  of  enormous  treasure  is  yery  prevalent  among 
the  Arabs,  and  I  met  with  it  at  Mosul  in  this  wise. 
My  servant  had  lost  three  mejidis  (about  nine  shillings), 
and,  having  found  a  Muslim  sorcerer  that  understood 
what  to  do,  obtained  a  charm  from  him.  This  was 
a  piece  of  paper  inscribed  with  various  invocations  and 
cabalistic  figures,  which  was  to  be  left  near  the  place 
where  the  money  had  been  lost.  If  the  demons  who 
inhabit  the  air  had  taken  it  to  add  to  their  treasure,  they 
would  return  it  at  midnight ;  if  it  had  been  stolen  by 
human  hands,  then  would  they  write  the  name  of  the 
thief  on  the  paper.3  Doughty,4  on  this  subject,  says 
that  on  the  landmark  rock  el-Howwara  in  the  plain  of 


1  Baldensperger,  P.E.F. ,  1893,  206  ;  ibid.,  1899,  149. 

2  Loc.  cit.,  1893,  206  ;  ibid.,  1899,  149. 

a  See  my  article  P.S.B.A.,  1906,  February,  81. 

4  Arabia  Deserta ,  i,  170. 


MONSTERS. 


63 


Medain  Salih  a  great  treasure  lies,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Moors  in  the  Kella,  sealed  in  a  turret-like  stone  chamber 
in  the  keeping  of  an  Afrit. 

The  *  horseleach  ’  of  Prov.  xxx,  15,  is  nothing  more 
than  a  flesh-devouring  ghoul ;  the  Hebrew  word  is  ‘ aliikah , 
the  equivalent  of  the  Arabic  ‘ aulak ,  as  was  pointed  out 
by  Wellhausen.1 

To  this  class  of  beings  we  must  add  some  peculiar  forms 
of  deities,  whose  description  is  fully  portrayed  in  the 
cuneiform  tablets.  One,  a  sea-monster,  a  ‘  form  ’  of  Ea,  is 
thus  described:  “  The  head  is  the  head  of  a  serpent;  from 
his  nostrils  mucus  (?)  trickles,  his  mouth  being  beslavered 
with  water  ;  the  ears  are  like  those  of  a  basilisk,  his  horns 
are  twisted  into  three  curls,  he  wears  a  veil  in  his  headband; 
the  body  is  that  of  a  Siih  fish,  full  of  stars,  the  base  of 
his  feet  are  claws,  the  sole  of  his  foot  having  no  heel.’'  2 
More  important,  from  an  anthropological  standpoint,  is 
the  picture  of  Nin-tu,  a  ‘  form  ’  of  the  goddess  Mah.  “  The 
head  (has)  a  fillet  and  a  horn  .  .  .  She  wears  a  head 
ornament,  she  wears  a  fly  (?).3  She  wears  a  veil;  the 
fist  of  a  man  ;  she  is  girt  about  the  loins,  her  breast 
being  open.  In  her  left  arm  she  holds  a  babe  sucking 
her  breast,  inclining  towards  her  right  arm  ;  from  her 

1  Reste ,  149. 

2  Devils ,  ii,  149.  The  word  translated  £  form 1  appears  to  be  fairly 
certain. 

3  This  word  is  lamsatu  in  the  text,  ordinarily  a  kind  of  fly,  although 
what  it  means  here  is  doubtful.  That  it  means  a  fly  of  some  kind  is 
quite  clear  from  the  determination  in  its  ideogram,  and  I  think  we 
shall  not  be  mistaken  in  seeing  its  cognate  in  the  modern  Arabic 

,  a  mosquito,  just  as  almattu  in  Assyrian  =  the  Arabic 
and  lamattu  =  <£L*J  (see  my  note  in  P.S.B.A. ,  1906,  226). 


04 


THE  MOTHER-GODDESS. 


head  to  her  loins  the  body  is  that  of  a  naked  woman ; 
from  the  loins  to  the  sole  of  the  foot  scales  like  those  of 
a  snake  are  visible:  her  navel  is  composed  of  a  circlet.”1 
It  seems  extremely  probable  that  we  have  here  the  model 
for  the  numerous  little  clay  figures  which  have  been  found 
from  time  to  time  during  excavations,  possessing  these 
characteristics,  and  we  shall  not  he  far  wrong  in  considering 
them  as  votive  offerings  made  by  barren  women  who  desired 
offspring.2  JNin-tu  doubtless  occupied  among  the  peoples 
of  Mesopotamia  the  position  which  Hathor  held  among  the 
Egyptians,  and  the  Virgin  Mary  among  Oriental  Christians, 
a  form  of  mother- goddess  who  plays  such  an  important 
part  in  many  mythologies. 

In  Jewish  demonology  we  find  Keteb  Meriri,  a  demon 
who  reigns  from  10  in  the  morning  to  3  in  the 
afternoon  from  the  17th  of  Tammuz  to  the  9th  of 
Ab,  described  as  having  the  head  of  a  calf  with  one 
revolving  horn  in  the  middle,  and  an  eye  in  the  breast, 
the  whole  body  being  covered  with  scales,  hair,  and  eyes  ; 3 
and  the  curious  reader  will  see  many  points  of  similarity 
in  Assyrian  texts  kindred  to  those  that  are  quoted  above.4 
The  form  of  sea-monster  seems  to  find  a  parallel  in  the 
Testament  of  Solomon  5  in  the  demon  which  has  the 

1  Devils ,  ii,  147. 

2  Martin,  in  his  Textes  Religieux,  21,  has  published  the  translation 
of  a  text  for  a  man  desiring  to  know  whether  he  will  have  male 
issue  :  “0  Samas,  lord  of  judgment,  Adad,  lord  of  the  vision  .  .  . 
the  lady  N.,  his  wife,  who  hath  dwelt  for  long  under  his  protection 
.  .  .  hath  borne  only  girls,  and  there  is  no  male  (issue)  and  his  heart 
is  sad.”  I  have  translated  sal-mes  (i.e.  sinnisdti)  as  ‘girls/  as 
preferable  to  Martin’s  salmes,  ‘  heureusement.’ 

3  Jewish  Encycl .,  iv,  516. 

4  See  Devils ,  ii,  151,  etc. 

5  Ed.  Conybeare,  J.Q. ,  xi,  33. 


SEMI-HUMAN  DEMONS. 


65 


shape  of  a  horse  in  front  and  behind  a  fish,  “  a  sea-demon 
who  creates  a  destructive  wave.”  But  this  rather  looks 
like  a  plagiarism  of  a  Greek  sea-horse. 

And  while  on  the  subject  of  the  mother-goddess,  it 
seems  very  probable  that  we  have  one  akin  to  the  poly- 
mastoid  Diana  of  the  Ephesians  in  the  Assyrian  Queen 
of  Nineveh,  described  (ostensibly  by  Nabu)  in  the  prayer 
of  Assurbanipal 1 — “  Thou  wert  the  babe,  O  Assurbanipal, 
whom  I  left  in  charge  of  the  Queen  of  Nineveh ;  thou 
wert  the  weakling,  0  Assurbanipal,  whom  I  placed  (?) 
at  the  breast  (?)  of  the  Queen  of  Nineveh ;  of  the  four 
breasts  which  were  put  to  thy  mouth,  two  thou  didst 
suck,  with  two  thou  didst  cover  thy  face.” 

We  now  come  to  the  third  class  of  spirits,  those  that 
are  half  human  and  half  supernatural.  From  the  stand¬ 
point  of  their  peculiar  existence,  they  must  be  accounted 
the  most  interesting  of  the  three  species,  for  it  is  not 
merely  from  the  interest  attaching  to  their  nature  that 
they  are  valuable,  but  the  beliefs  in  their  origin  throw 
such  light  on  primitive  ideas  as  cannot  be  reckoned  too 
highly.  The  evidence  that  they  were  a  very  popular 
form  of  phantom  is  so  well-attested  and  convincing  as  to 
afford  a  firm  base  for  certain  theories  on  tabu  that  I  hope 
to  bring  forward. 

Going  back  again  for  the  third  time  to  the  Assyrian 
incantations,  as  the  earliest  systematised  beliefs,  we  must 
first  of  all  discuss  an  interesting  triad  of  ghostly  visitants — 
the  Mil,  Mitu ,  and  ardat  Mi.  The  second  is  obviously 
the  feminine  counterpart  of  the  first,  but  it  is  difficult 


1  See  Martin,  Textes  Religieux ,  29.  The  line  in  question  runs 
irbi  zizi  sa  ina  pika  sakna  II  tennik  II  tahallap  ana  panika. 


66 


LILITH. 


to  discriminate  accurately  between  tlie  characteristics  of 
the  lilitu  and  ardat  lilt.  Both  the  latter  are,  however, 
female  demons,  the  femininity  of  the  ardat  hh  being 
especially  emphasized  by  the  word  ardatu ,  which  always 
has  reference  to  the  woman  of  marriageable  age.  The 
ardat  lili  seems  to  have  had  much  closer  relations  with 
human  beings  than  the  lilitu ,  and  she  takes  over  the 
functions  of  the  Lilith  of  the  Hebrews,  which  is  obviously 
the  etymological  equivalent  of  lilitu.  These  functions 
are  no  more  nor  less  than  that  she  becomes  the  ghostly 
wife  of  men,  probably  unmarried  ones  if  there  is  anything 
in  the  comparative  folklore  of  the  Arabs,  by  reason  of 
her  desire  which  forces  her  to  roam  abroad  until  she  find 
a  mate.  It  is  from  this  that  we  may  find  a  derivation 
for  the  words  Ulu  and  lilitu  ;  they  are  certainly  not 
connected  with  the  Hebrew  lailali,  night,  as  fhe^ 
either  come  from  a  Semitic  root  rbb,  or  from  a  Sumerian 
word  lil.  If  it  be  the  former,  there  is  no  difficulty  in 
referring  them  at  once  to  the  words  lalu,  ‘  to  be  abundant/ 
and  lulu,  ‘lasciviousness,  wantonness.’ 1  That  the  Rabbis 

should  have  compared  pW?,  ‘night,’  with  ‘Lilith,’ 

was  very  natural,  but  in  view  of  the  Assyrian  01  Sumerian 
origin  of  the  word  this  is  now  untenable. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  evidence  for  the  nature  of  this 
triad.  In  a  list  of  phantoms  we  find  the  following  mention 
made  of  two  demons  : — 

1  This  view  is  also  held  by  Martin,  Textes  Relic/ieux ,  2o.  That  an 
angel  of  lust  was  known  to  the  Rabbis  is  apparent  from  Bereshith 
Rabba,  lxxxv,  quoted  Maimonides,  Guide  to  the  Perplexed ,  ii,  c.  vi,  in 
regard  to  the  relation  between  Judah  and  Tamar  :  ‘  Rabbi  Jochanan 
said  that  Judah  was  about  to  pass  by  [without  noticing  Tamar],  but 
God  caused  the  angel  of  lust,  i.e.  the  libidinous  disposition,  to  present 

himself  to  him.” 


LILITH. 


67 


“  The  ardat  lili  that  hath  no  husband, 

The  idlu  lili  that  hath  no  wife.”  1 

The  latter  is  merely  the  male  counterpart  of  the  first, 
occurring  only  here  as  far  as  I  know,  with  stress  laid  on 
its  masculinity,  idlu  being  the  word  for  a  grown  man  of 
full  strength. 

We  have,  therefore,  four  phantoms  of  this  nature  to 
discuss,  the  lilu,  the  lilttu ,  and  the  ardat  lili,  with  a  rare 
counterpart,  the  idlu  lili.  Leaving  the  last-named  alone 
for  the  present,  the  ardat  lili,  the  true  equivalent  of  the 
Lilith,  is  the  best  known,  and  the  Assyrian  incantations 
are  quite  clear  in  their  descriptions  of  her  character. 

First,  then,  we  find  from  the  text  quoted  that  she  has 
no  husband.  This  is  amplified  by  the  prayer  to  the  Sun 
on  behalf  of  a  possessed  man — 

‘ £  He  on  whom  an  evil  spirit  hath  rushed, 

He  whom  an  evil  demon  hath  enveloped  in  his  bed, 

He  whom  an  evil  ghost  hath  cast  down  in  the  night, 

He  whom  a  great  devil  hath  smitten, 

He  whose  limbs  an  evil  god  hath  racked  (?), 

He  the  hair  of  whose  body  an  evil  fiend  hath  set  on  end, 

He  whom  ...  [a  hag-demon]  hath  seized, 

He  whom  [a  ghoul]  hath  cast  down, 

He  whom  a  robber-sprite  hath  afflicted, 

He  whom  the  ardat  lili  hath  looked  upon, 

The  man  with  whom  the  ardat  lili  hath  had  union.” 2 


1  Haupt,  A.S.K.T. ,  11,  ii,  30. 

2  W.A.I.,  v,  50,  i,  41.  The  Assyrian  of  these  two  lines  runs  : — 

sa  ardat  lili  ihirusu,  idlu  sa  ardat  lili  ikrimusu. 

Another  text  gives  the  following  amplifications  : — ardat  lili  ina  apti 
ameli  izziJca  ardatu  la  Hmta  I  »  sa  kima  sinnisti  la  arihatu  I  »  sa  kima 

*  W 

sinnisti  la  nakpatu  (Sm.  49,  Bezold,  Catalogue ,  1376).  “  The  ardat  lili 
attacketh  the  man’s  dwelling,  a  maid  untimely  dead  (?),  a  maid  that 
cannot  menstruate  (?  cf.  like  a  woman,  that  hath  no  modesty 

(?cf.  like  a  woman.” 


68 


LILITH. 


The  lilu  and  lilitu  must  have  had  something  of  the  same 
character,  although  we  know  very  little  about  them ;  the 
question  then  arises  as  to  the  idlu  lili ,  which  is,  as  far  as 
I  know,  airaZ  Xeyofjuevov.  I  was  inclined  to  think  at 
first1  that  the  idlu  lili  was  nothing  more  than  an  academic 
invention  of  the  scribes,  parallel  to  the  ardat  lili ,  inasmuch 
as  this  text  in  which  it  occurs  is  merely  a  grammatical 
composition  made  up  of  phrases  occurring  in  cuneiform 
grimoires ;  hut  when  it  is  remembered,  first,  that  women  in 
Semitic  religion  are  liable  to  conceive  through  supernatural 
means,  and  that,  secondly,  these  Assyrian  incantations,  as 
we  have  them,  are  written  only  from  the  male  standpoint 
(doubtless  verbally  altered  in  exorcising  sickness  in  women), 
there  are  the  strongest  possible  grounds  for  the  existence 
of  a  male  counterpart  of  the  avdctt  lilt  in  the  phantasmagoria 
of  the  Babylonians.  At  any  rate,  it  is  absolutely  certain 
that  whether  we  consider  the  fellow  of  the  avdctt  lili  to 
have  been  called  lilu  or  idlu  lili ,  the  fact  remains  that 
women,  as  much  as  men,  were  exposed  to  the  possibility 
of  marriage  with  Jinn  and  other  invisible  powers.  In  late 
Hebrew  tradition  Lailah  is  prince  of  conception.2 

That  Jinn  can  intermarry  with  human  beings  is  a  well- 
attested  belief  of  the  Arabs.3  Such  folk  are  always  solitary 

i  Devils ,  I,  xxxii,  n.  1.  2  Jewish  Encycl. ,  i,  588. 

3  Compare  the  idea  of  the  Greek  Sirens,  who  are  very  similar  (J.  E. 
Harrison,  Pfolegomeua^  203).  It  was  laid  down  by  Martin  Del  Hio 
( Disquisitiones,  1599,  i,  178) :  u  Axioma  I  sit,  solent  Malefici  et  Lamise 
cum  dsemonibus,  illi  quidem  succubis,  hse  vero  incubis,  actum  Venerium 
exercere.”  “  Axioma  II  potest  etiam  ex  huiusmodi  concubitu  dsemonis 
incubi  proles  nasci.”  About  two  hundred  years  later  Francis  Barrett 
published  The  Magus ,  in  which  (p.  23)  the  curious  will  see  the  beliefs 
current  among  those  who  held  that  magic  was  a  true  science,  concerning 
the  semi-human  monsters,  born  of  human  and  immortal  parents.  On 


MEN  MARRIED  TO  SPIRITS. 


69 


and  unmarried.  Jallalo’ddin 1  explains  that  the  advantage 
which  men  received  from  Jinn  was  their  raising  and 

the  belief  in  succubi  and  incubi ,  see  Horst,  Zauber  Bibliothek,  vi,  116, 
who  on  p.  118  quotes  a  discussion  about  them  in  a  book  published 
a  hundred  years  after  Melancthon’s  Pliysik  (1550)  on  the  theme  that 
some  think  that  “  Demons  who  have  assumed  human  shapes  can 
mingle  and  generate  with  human  beings.”  This  the  author  of  the  book 
published  in  1650  denies,  on  the  ground  that  deest  enim  Dcemonibus 
semen.  Sprenger  ( Malleus  Malejicarum ,  1580)  has  a  chapter  headed 
An  per  deemones  incubos  et  succubos  detur  hominum  procreatio  (p.  37), 
which  he  answers  :  “  Daemones  non  vivificant  aliquod  corpus,  ergo  nec 
semen  poterunt  movere  localiter  de  loco  ad  locum  ”  (p.  39).  See  also  Wier, 
Histoires ,  288.  Frangois  de  la  Mirandole  (quoted  on  p.  326  of  Jean 
Wier’s  Histoires,  1579)  says  :  “  J’ay  conu  un  homme  nomme  Benoist 
Berna,  aage  de  septantecinq  ans,  du  nombre  de  ces  sacrificateurs  que 
nous  nommons  prestres,  lequel  par  l’espace  de  plus  de  quarante  ans 
avoit  couche  avec  un  Daemon,  qui  lui  estoit  familier,  et  lui  aparassoit 
en  forme  de  feme.”  Psellus  (eleventh  century),  in  his  Dialogue  on 
the  Operation  of  Daemons  (ed.  Collisson,  30-32),  relates  of  a  con¬ 
versation  with  a  monk  in  Mesopotamia,  “  who  really  was  an  initiated 
inspector  of  daemonic  phantasms  :  these  magical  practices  he  after¬ 
wards  abandoned  as  worthless  and  deceptive,  and  having  made  his 
recantation,  attached  himself  to  the  true  doctrine,  which  we  profess, 
and  assiduously  applying  himself,  underwent  a  course  of  instruction  at 
my  hands  ;  he  accordingly  told  me  many  and  extraordinary  things 
about  daemons  ;  and  once  on  my  asking  if  daemons  were  capable  of 
animal  passion, c  Not  a  doubt  of  it,’  said  he.  Quemadmodum  et  sperma 
nonnulli  eorum  emittunt  et  vermes  quosdam  spermate  procreant.  At 
incredibile  est,  inquam  excrementi  quicquam  daemonibus  inesse,  vasave 
spermatica  et  vitalia  vasa  quidem  eis,  inquit  illi,  hujusmodi  nulla 
insunt,  superflui  autem  seu  excrementi  nescio  quid  emittunt  hoc  mihi 
asserenti  credito  .  .  .  ;  And  are  there  many  descriptions  of 

daemons,  Marcus  ?  ’  I  asked  again.  ‘  There  are  many  ’  said  he,  ‘  and 
of  every  possible  variety  of  figure  and  conformation,  so  that  the  air  is 
full  of  them,  both  that  above  and  that  around  us,  the  earth  and  the 
sea  are  full  of  them,  and  the  lowest  subterranean  depths.’  ”  Marcus 
then  recounts  the  daemons  which  Thracian  affects  to  despise,  but 
quotes  a  species  Leliurium ,  “  speaking  in  his  barbarous  vernacular 
tongue,  a  name  which  signifies  Igneous.”  On  demons  generally  see 
Psellus,  Hypotypose  des  anciens  dogrnes  des  Chaldeens ,  ed.  Chaignet 
( Damascius  le  Diadoque ,  Les  Premiers  Principes ,  iii,  229). 

Quoted  Sale’s  Koran ,  Surah  vi. 


70 


MEN  MARRIED  TO  SPIRITS. 


satisfying  their  lust  and  their  appetites.  The  clan  of  ‘Amr 
b.  Yarbu‘  was  descended  from  a  si‘lat,  or  she-demon,  who 
became  the  wife  of  their  human  father.1  Palgrave  cites 
it  also.2  Sayce  quotes  as  an  instance  that  “  about  fifteen 
years  ago  there  was  a  man  in  Cairo  who  was  unmarried, 
but  had  an  invisible  ginna  as  wife.  One  day,  however, 
he  saw  a  woman  and  loved  her,  and  two  days  later  he 
died.  It  should  be  added  that  in  Egypt,  where  early 
marriages  are  the  rule,  bachelors  who  have  reached  the 
prime  of  life  are  believed  to  be  married  to  ‘afarit  or  ginn.”3 
Another  case,  mentioned  by  Baldensperger,4  was  that  of 
an  epileptic  servant  who  maintained  that  a  female  jinni 
was  in  love  with  him,  and  used  to  strike  him  half  dead 
to  the  ground.  At  Mosul  there  was  the  same  tradition, 
and  I  met  with  it  while  discussing  Jinn  and  kindred 
subjects  on  the  mound  of  Nineveh  one  evening,  when 
incidentally  (and  entirely  spontaneously)  one  of  the  men, 
Yakub,  told  me  that  he  knew  a  man  in  Mosul  who  declared 
that  he  was  visited  at  nights  by  a  spirit  in  the  form  of 
a  beautiful  woman,  who  had  already  borne  him  three 
children,  and  he  was  so  pleased  with  this  menage  that  he 
scorned  a  conventional  marriage.5 

Rabbinic  literature  is  full  of  the  doings  of  Lilith,  who 
bore  to  Adam  devils,  spirits,  and  lilin  (the  Assyrian  lilu).6 
Whoever  slept  alone  in  a  room  was  likely  to  be  beset  by 


1  Robertson  Smith,  quoting  Ibn  Doreid,  Kited)  al-ishtikdk ,  139,  Bel, 
Se?n.,  50. 

2  i,  33. 

3  Cairene  Folklore ,  Folklore ,  1900,  xi,  388. 

4  P.E.F. ,  1899,  149  ;  cf.  1893,  205. 

s  P.S.B.A. ,  Feb.  1906,  83. 

6  Eisenmenger,  Entdecktes  Judentum ,  ii,  413. 


LILITH. 


71 


her.1  The  Rabbis  believed,  too,  that  a  man  might  have 
children  by  allying  himself  with  a  demon,2  and  although 
they  might  not  be  visible  to  human  beings,  yet  when  that 
man  was  dying  they  would  hover  round  his  bed,  to  hail 
him  as  their  father.3  At  the  funeral  of  a  bachelor  the  Jews 
of  Kurdistan  cast  sand  before  the  coffin  to  blind  the  eyes 
of  the  unbegotten  children  of  the  deceased.4  Similarly,  the 
Assyrian  demon  alii  owes  its  parentage  to  a  human  being.5 
Bar  Shalmon,  the  legendary  son-in-law  of  Asmodeus,  the 
demon,  after  marrying  his  daughter,  a  princess,  becomes 
the  father  of  a  son  by  her,  but  deserts  her.  The  princess 
then  pretends  to  renounce  him,  but  begs  a  final  kiss,  which 
kills  him.6  Another  demon  of  the  same  kind  named  Ornias 
is  described  as  saying  (in  the  Testament  of  Solomon)  :  “  Those 
who  are  consumed  with  desire  for  noble  virgins  upon  earth 
.  .  .  these  I  strangle.  But  in  case  there  is  no  disposition 
to  sleep,  I  am  changed  into  three  forms.  Whenever  men 
come  to  be  enamoured  of  women,  I  metamorphose  myself 
into  a  comely  female,  and  I  take  hold  of  the  men  in  their 
sleep  and  play  with  them/’  7 

In  Palestine  it  is  said  sometimes  that  women  find  that 
their  best  gowns,  which  they  had  carefully  put  away  in 
their  bridal  chests,  have  been  worn  by  female  spirits  during 

1  Sabbath,  1516,  quoted  Blau,  Das  Altjiid.  Zauberw .,  12.  Rabba 
relates  how  he  saw  Hurmiz,  the  daughter  of  Lilith.  There  is  also 
a  certain  person  or  demon,  it  is  unknown  which,  called  Hurnim  bar 
Lilith  (Talmud,  Baba  Bathra ,  ed.  Rodkinson,  v,  203). 

2  Eisenmenger,  op.  cit.,  421. 

3  Ibid.,  425.  This  was  their  explanation  of  the  ba’al  Eri. 

4  Jevnsh  Encycl .,  xi,  600. 

5  Ahl  sa  ina  maial  must  amelu  ina  sitti  irihhil  atta  ( Devils ,  i, 
Tablet  ‘  B,’  18). 

6  See  Jewish  Encycl .,  510. 

7  Conybeare,  Jewish  Quarterly ,  xi,  17. 


72 


DEMIGODS. 


their  confinement,  because  they  did  not  utter  the  name  of 
God  in  locking  them  up.1  Presumably  the  female  spirit 
bedecks  herself  with  a  wedding  gown,  when  its  proper 
owner  is  separated  from  her  husband,  in  order  to  attract 
his  attentions.  Among  the  Jews  in  Palestine,  Lilith  (or 
the  evil  eye  in  general)  is  averted  from  the  bed  by  hanging 
a  charm  over  it  consisting  of  a  special  cabalistic  paper  in 
Hebrew  together  with  a  piece  of  rue,  garlic,  and  a  fragment 
of  looking-glass.  On  the  first  possible  Sabbath  all  the 
relations  assemble  in  the  patient’s  room  and  make  a  hideous 
noise  to  drive  away  evil  spirits.2 

On  the  other  hand,  women  are  equally  open  to  attack 
from  demons.  Whatever  view  may  be  held  of  the 
B’ne  Eldhim ,  who  took  wives  of  the  daughters  of  men3 

1  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Rel.,  115. 

2  Masterman,  Bill.  World ,  xxii,  249.  For  pictures  of  Hebrew 
amulets  hung  up  against  Lilith,  see  Jewish  Encycl .,  sub  voce  Amulets. 
See  also  P.  D.  Scott- Moncrieff,  P.S.B.A. ,  xxvii,  1905,  26,  for  a  photograph 
of  a  Hebrew  amulet  (inscription)  from  Morocco.  On  Jewish  Lilith- 
worship  in  Mesopotamia,  see  Z.D.M.G. ,  ix,  461  ft.  The  Jews  of  the 
present  day  write  on  the  bed  of  the  woman  in  childbirth,  and  on  the 

four  walls  of  the  chamber :  nhb  pin  rnni  dik,  “Adam  and 
Eve,  Get  out,  0  Lilith  ”  (Buxt.  Lex.,  1140). 

3  Cf.  Robertson  Smith,  Rel.  Sem.,  50  :  “  In  one  of  the  few  fragments 
of  old  mythology  which  have  been  transplanted  unaltered  into  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures,  we  read  of  the  sons  of  gods  who  took  wives  of  the 
daughters  of  men  .  .  .  such  a  hero  is  the  Izdubar  of  Babylonian  myth.” 
Examples  of  such  fabricated  genealogies  will  be  found  in  McLennan, 
Studies  in  Ancient  History,  ch.  ix.  To  the  subject  of  the  B'ne  Eldhim 
Horst  ( Zauber  Bibliothek,  ii,  391)  adds  the  so-called  “  Scheiss-Teufel,” 
“welche  ihr  grosstes  Vergniigen  daran  sinden,  ihre  Excremente  an 
Orten  abnulegen,  wo  man’s  am  wenigsten  vermuthet,  und  dadurcli  die 
Menschen  in  peinliche  Yerlegenheit  zu  bringen.”  Martin  Del  Rio 
(1599,  bk.  ii,  180)  remarks,  “vetustas  obtrudit  suos  semideos, 
Hercules,  Sarpedones,  iEneas,  Seruios  Tullos  ;  Anglia,  Merlinum  ; 
Pannonia,  Hunnos  ex  Arlunis  strigibus  Gothicis  et  Faunis  natos,”  etc. 


OFFSPRING  OF  WOMEN  AND  DEVILS. 


73 


(and  it  seems  only  reasonable  to  connect  this  legend  with 
this  form  of  superstition),  Hebrew  tradition  undoubted^ 
shows  an  acceptance  of  this  belief. 

The  parentage  of  Isaac  is  but  thinly  disguised,1  and 
there  is  a  remarkable  story  in  Ezek.  xxiii,  where  Yahweh 
marries  two  sisters  and  begets  children  by  them.  “  This 
is  an  allegory.  But  when  even  a  late  prophet  does  not 
hesitate  to  introduce  this  conception  as  a  figure  of  speech, 
it  may  be  reasonably  supposed  that  an  earlier  time  found 
it  only  natural  that  Yahweh,  as  well  as  other  gods, 
should  have  children  by  graciously  visiting  women  of  his 
choice.”2  Again,  it  is  the  “  Angel  of  Yahweh”  who 
foretells  the  birth  of  Samson.3  According  to  Mohammedan 
tradition,  it  was  Gabriel’s  breath,  which  he  breathed  into 
the  Yirgin  Mary,  that  caused  the  conception.4  In  Pirke 
P.JEl.  xxi,  xxii,  Cain’s  real  father  was  not  Adam,  but 
one  of  the  demons.5  In  Assyrian  mythology  the  amours 
of  the  goddess  Ishtar  with  human  beings  are  too  well 
known  to  need  repeating. 

In  the  Book  of  Enoch,6 7  wicked  spirits  are  said  to 
have  been  born  of  women  and  the  ‘holy  watchers,’  and 
Justin  Martyr  says  that  demons  are  the  offspring  of 
angels  who  yielded  to  the  embraces  of  earthly  women.' 

1  Encycl.  Bibl,  4692  :  Gen.  xxi,  1,  2  :  “  And  the  Lord  visited  Sarah 
as  he  had  said,  and  the  Lord  did  unto  Sarah  as  he  had  spoken. 
And  Sarah  conceived,  and  hare  Abraham  a  son  in  his  old  age. 

2  See  Encycl.  Bibl.,  article  Son  of  God,  4690. 

3  Judges  xiii,  3. 

4  Sale,  Koran ,  Surah  xix,  n.  r. 

5  On  angel  intermarriage  with  human  beings  see  Jewish  Encycl., 
sub  voce  Fall  of  Angels. 

6  c.  xv. 

7  Apol.  ii,  446  ;  both  these  cases  are  quoted  by  Conybeare,  Jewish 
Quarterly,  viii,  597,  603. 


74 


THE  STORY  OF  TOBIAS. 


In  the  Slavonic  Book  of  Enoch  Satan  is  the  seducer  and 
paramour  of  Eve.  The  very  fact  that  ecclesiastics  argue 
against  this  belief  in  their  writings 1  shows  how  strong 
the  belief  in  them  must  have  been :  “  Now  see,  my 

brother  readers,  and  know  that  this  ”  (of  angels  having 
intercourse  with  mankind)  “is  neither  in  the  nature  of 
spiritual  beings,  nor  in  the  nature  of  the  impure  and 
evil-doing  demons  who  love  adultery  ;  for  there  are  no 
males  and  females  amongst  them,  nor  has  there  been  even 
one  added  to  their  number  since  they  fell.  If  the  devils 
were  able  to  have  intercourse  with  women,  they  would 
not  leave  one  single  virgin  undefiled  in  the  whole  human 
race.”  In  the  Koran,  too,  Sale  annotates  the  remark : 
“  They  say,  God  hath  begotten  children ;  God  forbid !  ” 
with  the  explanation :  “  This  is  spoken  not  only  of  the 
Christians  and  of  the  Jews  (for  they  are  accused  of  holding 
Ozair,  or  Ezra,  to  be  the  Son  of  God),  but  also  of  the 
pagan  Arabs,  who  imagined  the  angels  to  be  the  daughters 
of  God.”  2 

Asmodeus,  the  demon,  who  first  appears  in  the  Book 
of  Tobit,  is  made  responsible  for  the  danger  in  men 
marrying  Sarah,  the  daughter  of  Baguel,  and  he  must 
be  “  bound  ”  before  Tobias  can  wed  his  bride.3  The 
phrase  “for  a  devil  loveth  her,”4  together  with  the  whole 

1  Bezold,  Die  Schatzhohle ,  18. 

3  Surah  ii.  Paul  believed  that  demons  could  be  warded  off*  and  their 
influence  repelled  by  the  chalebi  or  headdress  of  the  Jewish  women. 
This,  as  Dean  Farrar  admits  {Life  of  Christ ,  appendix  viii)  is  the  true 
meaning  of  Paul’s  rule,  that  women  should  veil  themselves  in  church 
“because  of  the  angels”  (Conybeare,  J.Q.,  viii,  579).  According  to 
a  tradition  of  Mohammed,  everyone  is  touched  at  birth  by  the  devil, 
except  Mary  and  her  Son,  between  whom  and  the  evil  spirit  God 
placed  a  veil  (Sale,  Koran ,  note  to  Surah  iii). 

3  Tobit  iii,  17. 


4  Ibid.,  vi,  14. 


THE  STORY  OE  TOBIAS. 


75 


story,  shows  how  great  a  hold  the  belief  had  obtained. 
Dr.  Gaster  has  published  two  hitherto  unknown  versions  of 
the  Tobit  Legend1  which  relate  that  “  Tobiyah  remembered 
the  words  of  Raphael,  and  he  took  the  heart  of  the  fish 
and  put  it  on  a  censer  and  burnt  it  under  the  clothes 
of  Sarah.  And  Ashmedai  received  the  smell  and  he 
fled  instantly.”  According  to  the  Testament  of  Solomon 
Asmodeus  is  made  to  say,  “I  am  called  Asmodeus  among 
mortals,  and  my  business  is  to  plot  against  the  newly 
wedded,  so  that  they  may  not  know  one  another.  And 
I  sever  them  utterly  by  many  calamities,  and  I  waste  away 
the  beauty  of  virgin  women,  and  estrange  their  hearts  .  .  . 
I  transport  men  into  fits  of  madness  and  desire,  when  they 
have  wives  of  their  own,  so  that  they  leave  them,  and  go 
off  by  night  and  day  to  others  that  belong  to  other  men.”2 
He  describes  his  own  parentage  as  being  from  an  angel’s 
seed  by  a  daughter  of  man.3  He  was  the  counterpart  of 
Lilith,  as  being  dangerous  to  women.  From  this  it  seems 
apparent  that  the  antagonism  of  Asmodeus  towards  the 
newly-wed  arose  primarily  from  the  idea  that  he  jealously 
guarded  to  himself  some  kind  of  jus  primce  noctis ,  and 
that  he  was  always  ready  to  attack  anyone  who  should 
interfere  with  his  possible  harim.  His  functions  are  the 
same  as  those  of  a  demon  of  some  of  the  native  tribes  of 
Central  Queensland,  who  is  a  noxious  being  called  Molonga, 
who  prowls  unseen,  and  would  kill  men  and  violate  women 
if  certain  ceremonies  were  not  performed.4 

Azazel  was  familiar  to  the  Rabbis  as  the  seducer  of  men 
and  women.5  In  the  Testament  of  Solomon,  one  of  the 

i  P.S.B.A. ,  xix,  37.  2  J-Q;  xi,  20.  3  Ibid.,  ch.  xxi. 

^  Roth,  Ethn.  Studies ,  120  ff.,  quoted  Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  iii,  94. 

s  Tanna  d.  b.  R.  Yishma‘el,  quoted  Encycl.  Bibl.,  ii,  366. 


76 


SPIRITS  MARRIED  TO  WOMEN. 


demons  is  described  as  having  the  form  of  a  dragon  with 
the  face  and  hands  of  a  man.  “  I  am  the  so-called  winged 
dragon,  and  I  chamber  not  with  many  women,  but  only 
with  a  few  that  are  of  fair  shape,  which  possess  the  name 
of  xuli,  of  this  star.  And  I  pair  with  them  in  the  guise 
of  a  spirit  winged  in  form,  coitum  habens  per  nates.  And 
she  on  whom  I  have  leapt  goes  heavy  with  child,  and 
that  which  is  born  of  her  becomes  eros.”  1  In  the  Arabian 
Nights,  in  the  story  of  the  Second  Royal  Mendicant,  the 
efreet  says :  “  0  man,  it  is  allowed  us  by  our  law,  if  a  wife 
be  guilty  of  incontinence,  to  put  her  to  death.  This  woman 
I  carried  off  on  her  wedding-night,  when  she  was  twelve 
years  of  age,  and  she  was  acquainted  with  no  man  but  me.” 
Among  modern  Arabs  the  belief  goes  still  further,  that 
a  dead  husband  may  revisit  his  wife.  It  is  said  that 
a  woman  in  Nebk  took  the  bath  of  ceremonial  purification, 
because  she  dreamed  she  had  received  a  visit  from  her 
dead  husband.  A  certain  man  in  Nebk  was  currently 
believed  to  have  been  the  offspring  of  such  a  union,  and 
no  reproach  was  ever  cast  upon  his  mother.2  Cognate  with 
this  was  the  action  of  a  barren  woman  who  rushed  up  to 
the  corpse  of  a  man  after  he  had  been  executed  for 
murder.3 * 

Somewhat  similar  to  Asmodeus  is  the  Arab  spirit  called 
Karina,  a  female  demon  accompanying  every  woman,  and 

1  Conybeare,  JQ. ,  xi,  31.  “But  since  such  offspring  cannot  be 
carried  by  men,  the  woman  in  question  breaks  wind/5 

2  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Bel.,  115-16. 

3  Ibid.,  116.  There  is  a  tradition  in  some  remote  (Jewish)  com¬ 
munities  that  a  woman  may  be  married  to  the  dead  ( Jewish  Encycl.,  xi, 

599).  On  the  superstitions  of  eating  corpses  of  men  executed  see 

Bergemann,  Die  Y erbreitung  der  A  nthropophagie,  21. 


THE  KARINA. 


77 


having  as  many  children  as  her  counterpart.  Just  as 
Lilith  took  the  place  of  Eve,  evidently  the  Karina  is 
intended,  in  one  of  her  phases  (that  of  bearing  children), 
to  do  the  same  for  each  man.  She  is  very  dangerous  to 
pregnant  women  and  newly  married  people ;  that  is  to 
say,  just  as  Asmodeus  becomes  jealous  of  interference  with 
his  rights,  so  does  the  Karina  admit  of  no  dallying  with 
other  women.  She  is  said  to  destroy  the  creative  power 
of  men 1  and  to  make  women  barren,  and  to  her  is  due 
epilepsy  as  the  penalty  for  pouring  water  over  the  threshold 
of  the  door  without  naming  God,  on  a  Friday,  or  to 
quench  the  fire.  She  may  appear  as  an  owl,  a  Jewess, 
a  camel,  or  a  black  man.  There  is  a  story  that  Solomon 
once  met  a  singular-looking  woman  and  asked  her  whether 
she  was  Jan  or  human.  She  answered  that  she  was  the 
Karina.  “  I  put  hatred  between  husband  and  wife,  I  make 
women  miscarry,  I  make  them  barren,  I  make  men  impotent, 
I  make  husbands  love  other  men’s  wives,  women  other 
women’s  husbands ;  in  short,  I  do  all  contrary  to  the 
happiness  of  wedded  life.”2 

That  barren  women  among  the  Semites  believe  in  divine 
intervention  to  give  them  children  is  evident  from  the 
Old  and  New  Testament,  as  well  as  from  other  sources. 
Indeed,  so  many  of  the  stories  point  to  a  materialistic 
conception,  that  we  must  not  suppose  that  the  primitive 
origin  of  such  a  belief  arose  from  any  ideas  of  abstract 


1  Presumably  in  the  same  way  the  Assyrian  demons  (Tablet  ‘  K  ) 
“  steal  away  desire  (?)  and  bring  to  nought  the  seed.”  Cf.  Sprenger, 
Malleus  Maleficarum  (1580),  about  witches  (p.  141)  :  “  Quod  obstetrices 
maleficse  conceptus  in  utero  diversis  modis  interimunt,  aborsum  pro- 
curant,  et  ubi  hoc  non  faciunt,  DEemonibus  natos  infantes  offerunt.” 

2  See  Baldensperger,  P.E.F.,  1899,  149  ;  1893,  206  ;  1906,  99. 


78 


DEMIGODS. 


answer  to  prayer.  When  Yahweh  visits  Sarah,1  or  Leah,2 
or  the  angel  of  Yahweh 3  comes  to  Samson’s  mother,4  we 
must  surely  see  a  remnant  of  tradition  bearing  on  the 
divine  origin  of  Isaac,  and  the  sons  of  Leah,  as  well  as  the 
Nazarite  Samson. 

Herodotus  has  handed  down  the  belief  which  was  current 
about  the  Temple  of  Bel  at  Babylon.5  “  Ho  man  is  suffered 
to  sleep  here,  but  the  apartment  is  occupied  by  a  female, 
whom  the  Chaldean  priests  affirm  that  their  deity  selects 
from  the  whole  nation  as  the  object  of  his  pleasures.  They 
have  a  tradition  which  cannot  easily  obtain  credit,  that 
their  deity  enters  this  temple  and  reposes  at  night  on  this 
couch.  A  similar  assertion  is  also  made  by  the  Egyptians 
of  Thebes ;  for  in  the  interior  part  of  the  temple  of  the 
Theban  Jupiter,  a  woman  in  like  manner  sleeps.  Of  these 
two  women  it  is  presumed  that  neither  of  them  is  ever 
introduced  to  the  other  sex.” 

The  existence  of  the  Assyrian  kizriti,  lihati ,  and  harimati 
is  worth  mentioning  in  this  connection. 

In  a  certain  family  in  Nebk  the  wife,  a  perfectly 
respectable  woman,  apparently  with  the  consent  of  her 
husband,  considers  it  wrong  to  refuse  a  ‘  holy  man.’  6 


1  Gen.  xxi,  1. 

2  “  And  Yahweh  saw  that  Leah  was  hated,  and  he  opened  her  womb  ” 
(Gen.  xxix,  31). 

3  Judges  xiii,  3. 

4  To  this  day  Moslems  at  Hamath  swear  by  Dei  'penis.  In  the 
village  of  Bludan,  25  miles  west  of  Damascus,  which  is  composed  of 
Greek  Christians  of  a  very  low  type,  the  same  oath  is  heard  on  the 
lips  of  women.  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Rel.,  113. 

5  Bk.  i,  ch.  clxxxi-clxxxii. 

6  Note  in  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Rel .,  150.  On  saints  in  India  see 
Lyall,  Asiatic  Studies ,  1884,  21  ff. 


BARREN  WOMEN. 


79 


One  Hanna  Khizani  of  Hamath  visited  Tanta  in  Egypt, 
and  saw  the  great  annual  festival  of  Seiyid  Ahmed 
el-Bedawi,  “  probably  the  most  popular  saint  in  Egypt,” 
when  there  were  upwards  of  half  a  million  persons  present, 
including  singers,  dancers,  jugglers,  and  showmen  of  every 
kind.  It  is  at  this  festival  that  some  of  the  honourable 
women  vow  the  use  of  their  bodies  to  the  first  one  who 
happens  to  approach  them.1  Sexual  excesses  were  practised 
down  to  quite  modern  times  at  the  annual  festival  of  the 
Prophet  Elijah,  within  the  enclosure  of  the  monastery  on 
the  top  of  Mount  Carmel.2 

What  throws  more  light  on  this  peculiar  idea  is  the 
ubiquity  of  the  belief  among  the  modern  Arabs.  There 
is  abundant  evidence  to  show  how  persistently  the  childless 
women  cling  to  the  belief  that  a  visit  to  a  sanctuary  (in 
its  broadest  sense)  will  remove  the  stigma.  Punning  water 
which  has  some  sacred  connection,  either  with  a  well,  holy 
man,  saint,  or  hero,  is  the  most  usual  aim  of  these  childless 
pilgrims.  In  some  of  the  channels  of  the  Orontes,  the  first 
night  that  the  water  is  allowed  to  flow,  there  is  a  special 
virtue  of  procreation,  and  barren  women  stand  therein, 
waiting  for  the  onrush  of  the  water.3  At  Kiriaten,  at  the 
so-called  Baths  of  Solomon,  is  a  famous  shrine,  called  Abu 
Pabah,  for  women  who  desire  children.  They  really  regard 


1  Ibid.,  154. 

2  See  this  and  other  instances,  Curtiss,  Bibl.  World ,  xxiii,  327,  and 
ibid,  on  temporary  marriages.  Sozomen  speaks  of  an  ancient  custom 
of  yielding  up  virgins  to  prostitution  when  on  the  eve  of  marriage  to 
those  to  whom  they  had  been  betrothed,  at  Heliopolis,  near  Mount 
Libanus  (Bccles.  Hist.,  bk.  v,  ch.  10).  .  Herodotus  speaks  of  the  custom 
of  the  women  devoting  themselves  to  Venus  among  the  Babylonians 
and  Cyprians  (i,  exeix). 

3  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Rel.,  117. 


80 


BARREN  WOMEN. 


the  well  of  the  shrine  as  the  father  of  children  horn  thus ; 

they  allow  the  hot  air  to  stream  np  their  bodies,  saying — 

‘  ‘  Oh,  Abu  Rabah  ! 

To  thee  come  the  white  ones, 

To  thee  come  the  fair  ones, 

With  thee  is  the  generation, 

With  us  is  the  conception.”  1 

There  is  a  cave  at  Juneh,  in  which  is  a  pool  of  water,  to 
which  the  same  power  is  attributed.2  At  the  stream  of 
Tell-el-kadi  the  barren  women  bathe  with  the  same  object,3 
and  hundreds  visit  the  shrine  of  Sa‘dadin  at  Jeba,  appearing 
the  following  year,  each  with  a  child  on  her  arm,  and 
bri no-in 2*  a  sacrifice.4  The  shrine  of  Chidr  at  Beirut  contains 
in  its  court  a  well  of  holy  water  (called  deker ,  ‘  male  ),  and 
barren  women  bathe  therein.  If  they  conceive  a  child  he 
is  called  Chidr.5  In  Palestine,  a  man  who  has  not  had 
a  child  promises  a  fedu  if  only  he  may  receive  the  gift  of 
one  from  a  certain  saint.  -If  it  should  be  born,  when  it  is 
several  days  old  they  put  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice  offered 
in  payment  of  the  vow  on  its  forehead.6 

1  Ibid.  2  Ibid.,  119.  3  Curtiss,  Bill.  World ,  xxiii,  100. 

.4  Ibid.,  98.  5  Ibid.,  332  ;  see  336. 

6  Prim.  Bern.  Bel.,  201.  Compare  John  v,  4.  This  story  of  the 
spirit  which  troubled  the  water  bears  analogy  to  the  Assyrian  text 
about  the  word  of  Marduk  ( W.A.I.,  iv,  26,  4,  1.  6  ff.  ;  Hehn,  Beitr. 
fur  Assyriologie ,  v,  332) : — 

Ana  tdmti  usarma  tamtum  si  galtat 
Ana  susi  usarma  surd  idammum 
Ana  agi  Puratti  usarma 
Amat  ilu  Marduk  asurrakJcu  idallah. 

“  Unto  the  sea  it  penetrateth,  and  the  sea  heaveth  ; 

Unto  the  marsh  it  penetrateth,  and  the  marsh  groanetli ; 

Unto  the  Euphrates  flood  it  penetrateth,  and  the  word  of 
Marduk  troubleth  the  river-bed.” 

.  On  other  holy  wells  and  springs,  such  as  Zemzem  at  Mecca,  Jidlal 
of  Eslimunazar,  Paneas,  etc.,  see  Baudissin,  Studien ,  104. 


THE  ALU. 


81 


Again,  to  what  class  of  beings  are  we  to  refer  the 
Scorpion-men  of  the  Gilgamish  legend,  and  “  the  people 
who  had  the  bodies  of  birds  of  the  holes  (i.e.  bats),  men 
with  the  faces  of  ravens,”  which  the  gods  created  ? 1 
Are  we  to  assume  that  these  were  formed  out  of  clay 
or  by  some  such  handicraft,  or  are  we  to  refer  them  to 
a  more  primitive  period,  when  the  connection  of  men 
and  gods  by  way  of  totems  was  much  closer  than  it 
srrew  to  he  in  after  times  P 

At  any  rate,  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  about  the 
semi-human  parentage  of  the  Assyrian  spirit  alu ?  It 
is  a  demon  which  hides  itself  in  dark  corners  and  caverns 
in  the  rock,  haunting  ruins  and  deserted  buildings,  and 
slinking  through  the  streets  at  night  like  a  pariah  dog. 
It  lies  in  wait  for  the  unwary,  ready  to  rush  out  from 
its  hiding-place  “  to  envelop  him  as  with  a  garment,” 
or,  coming  into  the  bedchamber  by  night,  it  steals  sleep 
away  from  men  by  threatening  to  pounce  upon  them, 
should  they  dare  to  close  their  eyes.3  “The  man  whom 
an  evil  alu  hath  enveloped  on  his  bed  ” 4  shows  the 
Babylonian  belief  in  what  the  Arabs  call  the  Kabus  or 
Kabus  en-nom,  a  nightmare  “  which  throws  itself  heavily 
on  a  sleeper,  preventing  him  from  moving  or  opening 
his  eyes,  and  which  disappears  as  soon  as  he  awakes.”  5 

1  Cuthsean  Legend,  King,  Seven  Tablets  of  Creation, ,  143,  11.  10-11. 
Cf.  Bev.  ix,  7  :  “  And  the  shapes  of  the  locusts  were  like  unto  horses 
prepared  for  war ;  and  upon  their  heads  as  it  were  crowns  like  unto 
gold,  and  their  faces  were  as  men’s  faces.” 

2  The  incantations  are  explicit  on  this  point,  the  line  “  Whether 
thou  art  an  evil  alii  which  the  man  hath  created  on  a  bed  of  night  in 
sleep  ”  bearing  the  same  idea  as  the  Babb  is  had  of  demons  procreated 
through  JcWi. 

3  Devils,  Tablet  ‘  B.’  4  W.A.I.,  iv,  50,  i,  44. 

5  Sayce,  Cairene  Folklore ,  Folklore ,  ii,  387.  This  was  one  form  of  the 

G 


82 


FEYER. 


Besides  these  actual  demons  various  diseases  were 
personified  in  the  same  way.  Fever,  Headache,  and 
such  like  were  all  devils  to  be  exorcised — 

“  Incantation  : — 

The  evil  Fever  hath  come  like  a  deluge,  and 
Girt  with  dread  brilliance  it  filleth  the  broad  earth, 

Enveloped  in  terror,  clothed  with  fear  ; 

It  roameth  through  the  street,  it  is  let  loose  in  the  road  ; 

It  standetli  beside  a  man,  yet  none  can  see  it, 

It  sitteth  beside  a  man,  yet  none  can  [see  it]. 

When  it  entereth  the  house  its  appearance  is  unknown, 

When  it  goeth  forth  [from  the  house]  it  is  not  perceived.”  1 

Or  from  one  of  the  “  Headache  ”  tablets  we  learn — 

“  Headache  hath  come  forth  from  the  Underworld, 

It  hath  come  forth  from  the  dwelling  of  Bel, 

From  amid  the  mountains  it  hath  descended  upon  the  land, 

From  the  ends  of  the  mountains  it  hath  descended  upon  the  land, 
From  the  fields  not  to  return  it  hath  descended, 

With  the  mountain-goat  into  the  fold  it  hath  descended, 

With  the  ibex  unto  the  Open-horned  flocks  it  hath  descended, 

With  the  Open-horned  unto  the  Big-horned  it  hath  descended.” 2 

This  peculiar  idea  of  a  personified  disease  having  its 
home  in  the  mountains  reappears  in  a  Syriac  charm 
against  lunacy — “  [0  Evil  Spirit  of  Lunacy],  you  will 
needs  go  forth  from  the  bones,  from  the  sinews,  from 

incubus  which  so  exercised  the  minds  of  the  mediaeval  demonologists. 
Jean  Wier  (in  his  Histories,  Disputes  et  Discours ,  des  Illusions  et 
Impostures  des  Diables,  1579,  284)  says,  on  the  illusion  of  the  incubus, 
that  there  is  in  the  art  of  medicine  a  malady  called  Incubus  by  the 
Latins,  such  that  those  who  are  attacked  by  it  believe  themselves  to 
be  supporting  a  burden  in  their  sleep,  which  prevents  their  breathing, 
and  consequently  also  their  speaking.  His  is  an  interesting  book  on 
all  sorts  of  discussions  of  this  nature. 

1  Devils,  ii,  11.  2  Ibid.,  Tablet  III,  Series  Ti’i. 


HEADACHE. 


83 


the  flesh,  from  the  skin,  and  from  the  hair  unto  the 
ground,  and  from  the  ground  (passing)  to  iron,  and  from 
iron  to  stone,  and  from  stone  (you  will  pass  on)  to  the 
mountain.”  1 

A  Metawileh  charm,  which  is  kept  in  a  leather  purse 
runs  :  “I  have  rested  upon  God.  Away  from  me,  0  fever, 
from  Abdallah  the  son  of  Hosein.”  2 

The  Ninth  Tablet  of  the  Series  (e  Headache  ”  is  similar. 

“  Incantation  : — 

Headache  roameth  over  the  desert,  blowing  like  the  wind, 

Flashing  like  lightning  it  is  loosed  above  and  below  ; 

It  cutteth  off  him  who  feareth  not  his  god  like  a  reed, 

Like  a  stalk  of  henna  it  slitteth  his  thews. 

It  wasteth  the  flesh  of  him  who  hath  no  protecting  goddess, 
Flashing  like  a  heavenly  star  it  cometh  like  the  dew  ;  ^ 

It  standeth  hostile  against  the  wayfarer,  scorching  him  like  the  day. 
This  man  it  hath  struck,  and 
Like  one  with  heart  disease  he  staggereth, 

Like  one  bereft  of  reason  he  is  broken, 

Like  that  which  hath  been  cast  into  the  fire  he  is  shrivelled, 

Like  a  wild  ass  .  .  .  his  eyes  are  full  of  cloud, 

On  himself  he  feedeth,  bound  in  death.”  3 

Dimetu  is  another  disease  personified.4 

Namtaru,  the  Plague-god,  is  also  addressed  in  the 
incantations.  In  the  one  in  which  the  physician  is 
directed  to  make  a  figure  of  his  patient  in  dough,  so 

1  H.  Gollancz,  Selection  6f  Charms ,  91. 

2  Fallscheer,  P.E.F.,  1889,  128.  3  Devils,  ii,  65. 

4  The  question  arises  whether  we  are  to  see  in  dimetu  (as  connected 

with  the  Hebrew  Hrl,  a  menstruating  woman)  merely  the  more 
general  word  for  ‘  sickness,5  or  some  more  specific  use  of  this  word  as 
the  personification  of  menstruation,  in  accordance  with  the  special 
meaning  in  Hebrew.  On  arihatu ,  connected  with  arhu,  ‘month,’ 

possibly  having  this  signification,  see  supra,  p.  67. 


84 


NAMTARU. 


that  the  Plague-god  may  he  induced  to  leave  the  man  he 
is  tormenting  and  enter  his  image,  he  is  thus  described  : — 

“  Incantation  : — 

% 

0  Plague-god  that  devoureth  the  land  like  fire, 

Plague-god  that  attacketh  the  man  like  a  fever, 

Plague-god  that  roameth  like  the  wind  over  the  desert, 

Plague-god  that  seizeth  on  the  man  like  an  evil  thing, 

Plague-god  that  tormenteth  the  man  like  a  pestilence, 

Plague-god  that  hath  no  hands  or  feet,  that  wandereth  by  night, 
Plague-god  that  teareth  the  sick  man  in  shreds  like  a  leek, 

That  hath  bound  his  members, 

That  hath  brought  low  his  full  strength  [like  a  plant  (?)] 

[At  night]  on  his  bed  he  cannot  sleep. 

It  hath  subjected  .  .  . 

It  hath  seized  on  his  loins  ; 

His  god  is  far  distant  from  him, 

His  goddess  from  his  body  is  afar. 

Marduk  hath  seen  him  (etc.). 

‘What  I’  (etc.). 

‘  Go,  my  son  (Marduk), 

Pull  off  a  piece  of  clay  from  the  deep, 

Fashion  a  figure  of  his  bodily  form  (therefrom)  and 
Place  it  on  the  loins  of  the  sick  man  by  night, 

At  dawn  make  the  atonement  for  his  body, 

Perform  the  Incantation  of  Eridu, 

Turn  his  face  to  the  west, 

That  the  evil  Plague-demon  which  hath  seized  upon  him 
May  vanish  away  from  him.  5  55  1 

Among  the  Assyrians  the  custom  existed  of  hanging 
up  amulets  of  inscribed  clay  to  guard  the  house  from 
evil,  just  as  is  done  to  this  day  by  many  nations.  In 
the  British  Museum  are  two  tablets1 2  inscribed  with  the 
legend  of  Ura,  another  spirit  of  pestilence.  These  have 

1  Devils ,  ii,  99  ;  cf.  IF. A./.,  iv,  27,  4,  54.  Namtaru  rabu  sa  rasubbatu 
ramd,  “  great  Namtaru,  girt  with  dread.” 

2  L.  W.  King,  Zeits.  fiir  Assyr .,  xi,  50. 


URA. 


85 


a  rectangular  projection  at  tlie  top  which  is  pierced 
horizontally,  by  which  it  was  evidently  intended  that 
the  tablet  should  be  hung  up.  This  upper  projection 
in  one  case  is  inscribed,  very  much  after  the  irregular 
manner  of  the  charms  of  the  Middle  Ages,  thus : — 


and  on  the  upper  edge,  above  the  word  “  God  ”  :  “  May 
the  shrine  of  Assur  and  Melam  (?)  be  over  this  house  !  ” 

The  inscription  on  the  tablets  is  a  quotation  from  the 
legend  of  TTra,  the  Plague-god,  beginning — 

“  When  Ura  was  appeased  .  .  . 

The  gods  all  of  them  .  .  . 

The  Igigi,  the  Anunnaki,  all  those  that  went  before  him  .  .  . 
Then  Ura  opened  his  mouth  and  unto  .  .  .  spake  ; 

1  Pay  heed,  all  of  you,  to  my  words  .  .  . 


1  What  this  means  is  doubtful.  For  a  tablet  similar  in  shape 
compare  Rm.2,  263  (Bezold,  Catalogue ),  which  has  the  same  projection 
for  suspension,  and  contains  an  address  to  Ishtar :  “To  Ishtar,  great 
lady,  queen  of  the  Igigi  and  Anunnaki,  whose  power  the  gods,  her 
fathers,  have  increased  .  .  .  the  destruction  of  mine  enemies,  the 
attainment  of  all  my  desires,  with  many  gifts  to  Ishtar,  dwelling  in 
Arbela,  my  lady  I  present.”  In  the  British  Museum  is  a  bronze 
plaque  of  a  similar  shape  from  Nimroud,  with  a  mythological  scene 
figured  on  it,  and  beneath  this  and  on  the  reverse  an  inscription 
dedicated  to  Nabfi.  by  Assur-ristia  in  gratitude  for  the  preservation 
of  the  lives  of  himself  and  other  men,  with  a  list  of  the  offerings 
presented  (houses,  land,  etc.),  which  these  beneficiaries  have  given 
to  the  god  (Nimroud  Gallery,  Case  ‘  A/  No.  130). 


86 


THE  ANGEL  OE  DEATH. 


That  which  I  evolved  in  my  former  sin  is  evil, 

In  my  heart  I  was  angry  and  the  people  I  cast  down.’  ” 1 

The  legend  of  Ura,  the  plague- spirit,  contains  an  interesting 
chant — 

“Ura  was  angry,  and  determined 
To  ravage  the  whole  world, 

But  Ishum,  his  counsellor,  appeased  him 
That  he  abandoned  [his  wrath]  .  .  . 

And  thus  spake  the  hero  Ura : — 

‘  Whosoever  shall  praise  this  song, 

In  his  shrine  may  plenty  abound  .  .  . 

Whosoever  shall  magnify  my  name, 

May  he  rule  the  four  quarters  of  the  world  ; 

Whosoever  shall  proclaim  the  glory  of  my  valour, 

Shall  have  none  to  oppose  him; 

The  singer  who  chants  it  shall  not  die  in  pestilence, 

But  unto  king  and  noble  his  speech  shall  be  well  pleasing  ; 

The  scribe  who  learns  it  shall  escape  from  the  foe  .  .  . 

In  the  shrine  of  the  peoples  where  he  cries  my  name  continually 
His  understanding  will  increase. 

In  the  house  where  this  tablet  is  set, 

Tho’  I,  Ura,  be  angry  or  the  Imina-bi  gods  bring  havoc, 

Yet  the  dagger  of  pestilence  shall  not  approach  it, 

Immunity  shall  rest  upon  it.’”2 

Now  to  how  great  an  extent  are  we  to  compare  the 
Kabbinic  traditions  of  the  Angel  of  Death  (Sammael), 
Satan,  and  many  of  the  other  demons  of  this  kind?  The 
Angel  of  Death,  in  an  Arabic  Midrash,  is  described  as 
a  decrepit  old  man,  when  sent  to  take  Abraham.  In  the 
Old  Testament  he  is  possibly  to  be  seen  in  the  Angel  of 
the  Lord  who  kills  185,000  of  the  Assyrians  (2  Kings 
xix,  35),  or  “  the  Destroyer”  (Exod.  xii,  23),  and  the 
angel  in  2  Sam.  xxiv,  16.  The  Kabbis  found  him  in 


1  See  King,  loc.  cit. 


2  King,  First  Steps  in  Assyrian ,  219. 


SATAN. 


87 


Ps.  lxxxix,  48,  where  the  Targum  translates  “  There  is  no 
man  who  lives  and,  seeing  the  angel  of  death,  can  deliver 
his  soul  from  his  hand.”  1  Sammael,  of  frequent  occurrence 
in  Rabbinic  writings,  is  generally  supposed  to  be  composed 
of  DD  ‘poison’  and  ‘  God.’  This  etymology  is  based 
on  the  belief  that  the  Angel  of  Death  puts  an  end  to 
man’s  existence  by  the  infusion  of  a  drop  of  gall  or 
wormwood.2  In  late  Syriac  tales 3  the  Angel  of  Death 
is  often  described.  Satan  (for  which  there  is  apparently 
no  root  in  Assyrian,  although  in  Arabic  the  root  stn  occurs, 
meaning  ‘  to  oppose  ’)  is  a  distinct  personality  mentioned 
only  three  times  in  the  Old  Testament  (Zech.  iii,  Job  i,  ii, 
1  Chron.  xxi,  1),  all  of  which  are  post- Exilic,  the  earliest 
being  about  519  b.c.  and  the  last  300  b.c.  In  Ps.  cix,  6, 
and  probably  Ecclus.  xxi,  27,  it  is  a  human  adversary 
that  is  referred  to.  In  Zechariah  he  is  obviously  (from 
the  rebuke  administered  to  him)  in  an  inferior  position ; 
in  Job  the  subordination  is  still  clear ;  in  Chronicles  the 
independence  of  Satan  has  become  as  complete  as  it  ever 
did.  The  ‘  tempter  ’  is  an  advanced  stage ;  even  in  J ob, 
far  less  in  Zechariah,  the  Satan  is  not  in  any  distinct 
manner  opposed  to  God.  This,  at  the  earliest,  he  becomes 
in  Chronicles.4 

1  See  Jewish  Encycl. ,  i,  89.  On  the  Angel  of  Death  see  Bender, 
J.Q .,  vi,  331. 

2  J.Q. ,  vi,  325  ;  see  also  Franck,  La  Kabbale ,  169. 

3  Der  Neu-Aramaisch  Dialekt  des  Tur-‘Abdin ,  ed.  Prym  and  Socin, 
1881.  In  one  of  them  a  young  man  shares  his  bread  with  the  angel 
(p.  298). 

4  The  whole  of  this  description  of  Satan  has  been  taken  from  the 
article  in  Cheyne’s  Encyclopaedia  Biblica ,  sub  voce.  See  also  Bender 
on  Satan,  J.Q.,  vi,  329,  and  the  Jewish  Encyclopaedia,  sub  voce.  The 
whole  question  of  Talmudic  angels  and  demons  is  gone  into  carefully 
by  Brecher,  Das  Transcendentale  im  Talmud ,  1850. 


88 


THE  EYIL  EYE. 


The  curiously  persistent  belief  in  the  power  of  the 
Evil  Eye  for  harm  was  as  real  in  Mesopotamia  among 
the  Assyrians  as  it  is  among  the  modern  Arabs.  It  is 
frequently  mentioned  in  incantations  among  the  possible 
causes  which  have  rendered  the  patient  sick,  and  it  is 
described  thus : — 

“  The  roving  Evil  Eye  hath  looked  on  the  neighbourhood,  and 
vanished  afar, 

Hath  looked  on  the  vicinity,  and  vanished  afar, 

It  hath  looked  on  the  chamber  of  the  land,  and  vanished  afar, 

It  hath  looked  on  the  wanderer, 

And  like  wood  cut  for  kindling  (?)  it  hath  bent  his  neck.” 

And  the  exorcism  ends — 

“  Thou  man,  son  of  his  god, 

The  Eye  which  hath  looked  upon  thee  for  harm, 

The  Eye  which  hath  looked  upon  thee  for  evil  .  .  . 

May  Ba‘u  smite  it  with  flax(?), 

May  Gunura  [smite  it]  with  a  great  oar  (?) 

Like  rain  which  is  let  fall  from  heaven, 

Directed  unto  earth, 

So  may  Ea,  king  of  the  Deep,  remove  it  from  thy  body.”  1 

Belief  in  it  is  universal  in  Palestine.2  It  can  throw 
down  a  house,  break  a  plough,  make  persons  sick  or  kill 
them,  as  well  as  animals  or  plants.  The  simplest  cure  for 
a  stroke  of  the  Evil  Eye  is  to  take  a  bit  of  clothing  of 
the  person  that  has  had  the  bad  quality,  a  rag  or  other 
object,  and  burn  it  below  the  person  struck.  Another 
method  is  to  place  pieces  of  alum,  salt,  incense,  and  tamarisk 
(if  Mohammedans  are  concerned),  or  a  piece  of  palm  from 


1  Devils ,  ii,  Tablet  ‘  U.’  On  the  whole  subject  see  Elworthy,  The 
Evil  Eye  ;  J.  Tuchmann  in  Melusine ,  iii. 

2  Cf.  Mark  vii,  22,  “lasciviousness,  an  evil  eye,  railing.” 


THE  EYIL  EYE. 


89 


Palm  Sunday  (for  Christians),  in  a  pan  on  the  fire,  and 
take  the  child  round  it  seven  times ;  as  soon  as  something 
cracks  in  the  pan  the  spell  is  broken.1  If  some  European 
should  pat  the  head  of  a  child  in  the  presence  of  a  native 
nurse,  the  woman  on  reaching  home  will  take  the  child 
into  a  room,  place  it  on  the  floor,  and  then  collecting 
some  dust  in  a  shovel  from  each,  of  the  four  corners  will 
throw  it  on  the  fire,  exclaiming,  “  Fie  on  thee,  Evil  Eye  !  ”  2 
Charms  in  the  shape  of  a  silver  eye  are  placed  on  the  heads 
of  children  “  with  sore  eyes,  or  to  prevent  eye  disease.”  3 
It  is  rather  a  question,  in  such  a  case,  whether  this  custom 
has  not  taken  its  origin  in  the  idea  of  repelling  the  Evil 
Eye  from  the  child. 

It  is  personified  in  a  Syriac  charm :  “  The  Evil  Eye 
went  forth  from  the  stone  of  the  rock,  and  the  Angel 
Gabriel  met  her.” 4  In  Arabia  the  possessor  of  the 
Evil  Eye  can  strike  down  a  bird  flying  with  his  glance.5 
In  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula  a  young  camel  is  protected 
from  it  by  a  hollow  stone  hung  roung  its  neck.6  Among 
the  modern  Jews  of  New  York,  the  antidote  is  to  take 
a  handful  of  salt  and  pass  it  round  the  head  of  the 
bewitched  child,  throwing  a  little  in  each  corner,  and 
the  remainder  over  the  threshold.  Another  is  for  the 
mother  to  kiss  her  child  three  times,  spitting  after 
each  kiss.7 

While  I  was  riding  from  Aleppo  to  Der-ez-zor  in 

1  Baldensperger,  P.E.F. ,  1893,  211 ;  1899,  150. 

2  G.  Robinson  Lees,  Village  Life  in  Palestine ,  214. 

3  Bliss,  P.E.F.,  1892,  319. 

4  H.  Gollancz,  Selection  of  Charms ,  93. 

5  Doughty,  Arabia  Peserta,  i,  548. 

6  Jennings  Bramley,  P.E.F. ,  1906,  205. 

7  Jewish  Encycl.,  sub  voce  Superstition. 


90 


THE  HAUNTS  OF  DEMONS. 


1904,  the  ombashi  (sergeant)  of  my  escort  complained  of 
an  injured  wrist,  which  he  declared  was  probably  due 
to  a  certain  woman  having  cast  an  evil  eye  upon  him 
while  he  was  doing  some  work  before  he  started. 

It  is  quite  the  usual  thing  in  Mesopotamia  to  protect 
children  from  the  Evil  Eye  by  fastening  small  blue 
objects  to  their  caps.  Similarly,  the  owners  of  valuable 
mares  will  ward  off  evil  by  knotting  small  beads  into  the 
mane  or  tail.  In  the  houses  they  suspend  small  bags 
of  leather  containing  charms  from  the  ceiling  for  a  similar 
purpose.  In  Cairo  “  it  is  a  very  common  custom  ...  to 
hang  an  aloe-plant  over  the  door  of  the  house  ”  with  the 
idea  of  securing  good  luck.1 

The  usual  haunts  of  demons  are  deserts,  caverns,  and 
ruins.2  “  0  thou  evil  demon,  turn  thee  to  get  hence ; 
0  thou  that  dwelleth  in  ruins,  get  thee  to  thy  ruins,”  3 
voices  the  tradition  of  all  peoples  that  have  ever  believed 
in  ghosts.  Maimonides  speaks  of  the  demons  and  ghouls 
that  dwell  in  the  wastes.4  The  old  Arab  belief  is  that  the 
ghosts  of  the  dead  dwell  in  graveyards,  ruins,  and  desert 
places 5  and  the  desert  is  full  of  spirits.6  The  modern 
Egyptian  believes  that  the  Jinn  inhabit  rivers,  ruined  houses, 
wells,  baths,  ovens,  and  even  the  latrine.7  The  ghoul  of 
the  Arabs  lives  in  the  desert,  and  appears  to  travellers  in 


1  Lane,  Manners  and  Customs ,  1890,  236. 

2  The  aborigines  of  Australia  believe  that  every  thicket,  most 
watering-places,  and  all  rocky  places  abound  with  evil  spirits  (Oldfield, 
quoted  Frazer,  G.B. ,  iii,  41). 

3  Devils ,  i,  Tablet  ‘  B,’  1.  55. 

4  Quoted  Chwolsohn,  Die  Ssabier ,  ii,  458. 

5  Wellhausen,  JReste,  157. 

7  Lane,  Manners  and  Customs ,  203. 


6  Ibid.,  149. 


HAUNTED  HOUSES. 


91 


a  friendly  guise  in  order  to  make  them  lose  their  way.1 
Christ  goes  into  the  wilderness  and  there  meets  the  devil.2 
The  Unclean  Spirit  of  Palestinian  tradition  passes  through 
waterless  places.3  In  Rabbinic  literature  the  particular 
spots  haunted  by  demons  are  caper-bushes  and  spear- 
worts,  where  they  dwell  in  groups  of  sixty ;  nut-trees, 
where  they  form  in  groups  of  nine ;  shady  spots  on 
moonlight  nights,  especially  the  roofs  of  houses,  under 
gutters,  or  near  ruins ;  cemeteries  and  privies ;  water, 
oil,  and  bread-crumbs  cast  on  the  ground.4 

Haunted  houses  are  as  common  among  the  Arabs  as 
with  Western  peoples,  and  anyone  who  has  lived  in 
Oriental  towns  will  recall  houses  of  which  the  rent  was 

f 

1  MasTtdi,  Prairies  d’Or ,  iii,  318. 

2  Matt,  iv,  1. 

3  Luke  xi,  24. 

4  For  authorities  see  Jewish  Encyclopaedia,  iv,  516.  The  Talmud 
tells  a  story  that  during  a  famine  a  pious  man  gave  a  dinar  to  a  poor 
man  on  New  Year’s  Eve,  and  his  wife  scolded  him  so  that  he  preferred 
to  pass  the  night  in  a  cemetery  rather  than  at  home.  There  he  over¬ 
heard  two  spirits  speaking  to  one  another,  and  one  invited  the  other  to 
perambulate  the  world  to  learn  what  punishment  is  to  be  inflicted 
upon  men.  The  second,  however,  said  it  could  not  leave  the  cemetery, 
because  it  had  been  buried  in  a  bed  of  reeds  ( Berakhoth ,  Talmud  of 
Babylon ,  i,  3,  ed.  Schwab,  296).  Maury  (La  Magie ,  194)  quotes  the 
Rabbinic  belief  that  demons  lived  in  deserts  or  unclean  places,  dung- 
heaps,  cloacae ,  and  obscure  places.  Francis  Barrett  (The  Magus,  1801, 
102)  explains  in  all  seriousness  that  the  best  places  for  ghost-raising 
are  churchyards,  or,  better  still,  where  criminals  have  been  executed  or 
where  a  “  great  public  slaughter  of  men  ”  has  taken  place  ;  or  even 
better  than  these,  the  place  where  some  dead  carcase  that  came  by 
violent  death  which  is  not  yet  expiated,  “for  the  expiation  of  those 
places  is  likewise  a  holy  rite  duly  to  be  adhibited  to  the  burial  of  the 
bodies,  and  often  prohibits  the  soul  returning  to  its  body,  and  expels 
the  same  afar  off  to  the  place  of  judgment.”  On  graveyards  as  the 
haunt  of  ghosts,  while  the  soul  is  in  the  next  world,  see  Jevons, 
Introduction  to  the  History  of  Religion,  2nd  edition,  1902,  49. 


92 


HAUNTED  HOUSES. 


down  to  the  lowest  pitch  through  suspicion  of  their 
being  haunted.  While  in  Mosul  I  was  told  the  common 
tale  of  death  by  fright  from  imaginary  ghosts,  how 
a  certain  man  was  challenged  to  visit  a  haunted  house 
at  night,  the  belief  being  that  the  demon  waited  behind 
the  door  to  spring  out  on  any  who  should  knock.  The 
man  set  out  one  evening,  and  on  his  not  returning,  his 
friends  went  to  see  what  had  happened  to  him,  and 
found  him  dead  at  the  very  door  with  his  abba  caught 
on  a  nail.1  The  same  type  of  story  is,  I  believe,  told 
in  English  of  the  man  who  dies  from  fright  because  his 
clothes  have  got  entangled  in  the  coffin  of  a  dead  man. 

The  belief  that  spectres  inhabit  ruins  is  universal  in 
Semitic  ghost  stories.  The  Syriac  legends  are  full  of  it ; 
in  one  of  the  anecdotes  in  Thomas  of  Marga’s  history,2 
the  story  is  told  that  “  while  a  certain  man  was  passing  at 
night  along  the  road  by  the  side  of  a  fire-temple  of  the 
Magians  which  had  been  a  ruin  for  some  time,  devils  sprang 
out  upon  him  in  the  form  of  black  ravens,  and  they  entered 
into  him  and  convulsed  him.”  In  an  Ethiopic  magical 
prayer  written  for  ’Ahita  Mikael  the  same  belief  appears, 
for  it  prescribes  certain  glorious  names,  probably  to  be 
recited,  “  at  the  front  and  at  the  doors  if  thou  wouldst 
enter  into  a  house  which  is  old  or  in  ruins  or  unclean.”3 
One  of  the  reasons  given  by  the  Rabbis  for  not  entering 
ruins  is  to  avoid  demons.4 

1  See  my  article,  P.S.B.A. ,  1906,  82. 

2  Ed.  Budge,  ii,  599.  Compare  Rev.  xviii,  2  :  “  Fallen,  fallen  is 
Babylon  the  great,  and  is  become  a  habitation  of  devils,  and  a  hold  of 
every  unclean  spirit,  and  a  hold  of  every  unclean  and  hateful  bird.” 

3  Budge,  Lady  Meux  MSS.,  Nos.  2-5,  216. 

4  Berakhoth ,  i,  4,  ed.  Schwab,  227. 


/ 


SUMMARY.  93 

According  to  Origen,  demons  haunt  the  air  and  cause 
plagues,  droughts,  and  bad  seasons.1  The  localities  most 
affected  by  their  presence  are  temples  and  shrines,  where 
incense  is  burned  and  blood-offerings  made,2,  the  slaughter 
of  victims  being  in  itself  enough  to  lure  them  to  heathen 
temples.  But  even  without  this  they  can  be  attracted  to 
a  place  and  laid  therein  by  the  use  of  certain  incantations.3 

We  may  therefore  briefly  sum  up  the  contents  of  this 
chapter  as  follows : — First,  the  ghost  or  spectre  of  a  dead 
man  reappearing  was  and  is  as  vivid  in  the  minds  of  all 
Semites  as  in  other  peoples,  and  the  character  of  such 
wraiths  was  markedly  similar  to  most  popular  superstitions 
of  this  kind.  A  spirit  might  be  raised  from  the  dead ;  it 
might  return  of  its  own  accord  to  haunt  men  ;  it  had  the 
power  to  inflict  harm  or  disease  on  those  whom  it  attacked, 
in  order  to  secure  the  payment  of  its  dues ;  and,  finally, 
the  sorcerers,  just  like  their  confreres  of  later  periods  and 
other  climes,  believed  that  their  exorcisms  could  ‘  lay  ’  such 
perturbed  spirits.  Secondly,  we  have  seen  that  the  Semites 
believed  in  a  wonderful  phantasmagoria  of  spooks,  goblins, 
demons,  and  fiends  of  hideous  and  horrid  shape  unsurpassed 
by  the  fertile  imagination  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which 
brought  sickness  on  mankind.  Thirdly,  we  must  account 
as  the  most  important  class  (in  view  of  certain  deductions 
to  be  made  in  succeeding  chapters)  those  semi-human  spirits, 
or  semi-divine  beings,  born  either  of  a  human  father  or 
mother.  This  belief  was  universal  among  the  Semites.  That 
is  to  say,  down  to  the  present  day  they  have  believed  in 


1  C.  Cels.,  i,  31,  quoted  Conybeare,  J.Q.,  ix,  60. 

2  Ibid.,  vii,  35,  64. 

3  Ibid.,  iii,  34. 


94 


SUMMARY. 


a  visitation  from  supernatural  beings  who  could  ally  them¬ 
selves  temporarily  with  a  man  or  woman,  and  have  children, 
in  the  former  case  to  inhabit  the  ghostly,  unseen  world, 
and  in  the  second  to  be  born  on  earth.  Instances  of  such 
alliances  of  gods  and  men  in  classic  mythology  are  so  well 
known  as  not  to  need  mention.  Further,  throughout  the 
whole  discussion,  it  has  been  obvious  that  the  Semitic  idea 
of  spirits  differs  hardly,  if  at  all,  from  the  superstitions  of 
all  other  peoples. 


95 


/ 


II. 

DEMONIAC  POSSESSION  AND  TABU. 


In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  seen  how  all  forms  of 
devils  and  spectres  exist  in  the  minds  of  the  Semites,  and 
the  next  step  in  succession  is  the  question  of  demoniac 
possession  in  its  relation  to  tabu.  This  latter  word, 
borrowed  by  anthropologists  from  Polynesia,  is  used  to 
define  that  peculiar  ban  which  savages  lay  on  certain 
actions  or  states,  from  an  idea  of  either  inherent  holiness 
or  uncleanness  connected  with  them.  That  the  principle 
of  tabu  actually  existed  among  all  the  Semites  in  its 
full  savage  force  at  one  time  or  another,  requires  no 
discussion,  for  its  presence  has  long  been  recognized,  not 
only  in  the  literature  of  these  ancient  nations,  but  also 
in  the  customs  of  the  modern  nomad  Arab  tribes ;  it  is 
obvious  from  a  comparison  between  their  laws  and  those 
of  more  savage  races  who  have  not  attained  that  pitch 
of  civilisation  which  admits  of  a  veneer  to  cover  over 
their  primitive  customs.  But  the  reason  why  tabu  existed 
demands  the  most  searching  scrutiny  into  the  early  records 
of  folklore,  and  it  may  be  that  Semitic  literature,  despite 
its  civilised  polish,  may  help  in  places  where  the  customs 
of  savage  races  offer  no  clue  to  their  origin. 

In  the  discussion  of  this  question,  the  first  point  to 
be  considered  is  the  view  that  the  Semites  held  of  the 
origin  of  disease.  The  cuneiform  tablets  again,  earlier  than 
anything  that  we  yet  possess  on  this  subject,  at  least  in 


96 


SICKNESS  AND  DEMONIAC  POSSESSION. 


a  comparatively  unedited  form,  afford  the  most  valuable 
evidence  of  all,  and  we  shall  approach  fundamentals  more 
nearly  through  the  Assyrian  exorcisms  than  by  other 
means.  By  gradual  and  successive  pieces  of  evidence, 
drawn  from  all  the  series  of  cuneiform  spells  which  were 
quoted  in  the  Introduction,  it  will  appear  clear,  I  think, 
that  the  object  of  these  incantations  was  to  heal  people 
suffering  from  disease,  which  will  be  seen  to  be  only 
another  name  for  spirit  obsession  in  its  widest  sense,  and 
that  such  people,  by  the  very  reason  of  their  sickness, 
were  presumed  to  have  incurred  a  breach  of  tabu.1 

With  the  simpler  literature  of  the  cuneiform  tablets 
before  us,  it  should  be  possible  to  unravel  the  more 
elaborate  mysticism  of  the  later  Semites,  and  hence  the 
first  task  is  to  deduce  therefrom  such  of  the  Semitic  super¬ 
stitions  about  disease  as  will  afford  a  base  from  which  to 
go  further  afield. 

No  one  can  read  much  of  the  incantation  literature  of 
the  Assyrians  without  recognizing  how  sickness  was  ascribed 
to  the  attacks  of  Jinn  or  spirits  of  different  forms  :  2 

1  On  the  universal  belief  that  disease  is  due  to  spirits  see  Tylor, 
Primitive  Culture ,  4th  ed.,  ii,  127. 

2  Cf.  Blau,  Das  Altjiid.  Zauberw.,  14.  Naturally  it  is  not  only  to 
demons  that  sickness  is  primarily  due  ;  the  gods  of  course  are  omni¬ 
potent  An  this  respect.  Ishtar  curses  Gilgamish  after  he  slays  her 
divine  bull,  and  he  is  smitten  with  a  sore  sickness,  doubtless  in  con¬ 
sequence  (King,  Babylonian  Religion ,  164),  and,  to  quote  one  instance 
out  of  many  from  the  medical  texts,  “when  (a  man)  is  smitten  on  his 
neck,  it  is  the  hand  of  Adad  ;  when  he  is  smitten  on  the  neck  and  his 
breast  hurts  him,  it  is  the  hand  of  Ishtar  on  the  necklace  ”  (S.  951). 
Joshua  the  Stylite  (ed.  Wright,  xxvi,  17)  puts  the  matter  quite 
tersely,  referring  to  the  year  of  Alexander,  “  And  as  all  the  people  had 
sinned,  all  of  them  were  smitten  with  the  plague.”  Cf.  Exod.  viii,  19  : 
“  This  is  the  finger  of  God.” 

It  is  apparent  from  this  incantation  to  the  star  Mustabarru  mutanu  . 


SICKNESS  DUE  TO  DEMONS. 


97 


“  Evil  fiends  are  they,  from  the  Underworld  they  have  gone  forth, 
They  are  the  messengers  of  Bel,  lord  of  the  world. 

The  evil  Spirit  that  in  the  desert  smiteth  the  living  man, 

The  evil  Demon  that  like  a  cloak  enshroudeth  the  man, 

The  evil  Ghost,  the  evil  Devil  that  seize  upon  the  body, 

The  Hag-demon  (and)  Ghoul  that  smite  the  body  with  sickness, 
The  Phantom  of  night  (lihT)  that  in  the  desert  roameth  abroad, 
Unto  the  side  of  the  wanderer  1  have  drawn  nigh, 

Casting  a  woeful  fever  upon  his  body. 

A  ban  ( mamit )  of  evil  hath  settled  on  his  body, 

An  evil  disease  on  his  body  they  have  cast, 

An  evil  plague  hath  settled  on  his  body, 

An  evil  venom  on  his  body  they  have  cast, 

An  evil  curse  hath  settled  on  his  body, 

Evil  (and)  sin  on  his  body  they  have  cast, 

Venom  (and)  wickedness  have  settled  upon  him.”  2 

“  Incantation  : — 

0  MustabarrH  mtUdnu,  great  lord,  merciful  god, 

That  taketh  the  hands,  the  brave  who  looseth  charms,  the  extolled 
that  giveth  life  to  the  man, 

I,  Samas-sum-ukin,  servant  of  his  god, 

Thy  slave,  mourn,  groan,  sigh, 

A  violent  sickness,  a  fire,  the  seizure  of  the  god  [Nergal  ?],  S 
An  evil  sickness,  an  TJtulcku- demon,  fever  in  my  body, 

A  baneful  disease  .  .  .  with  me, 

On  my  couch  of  mourning  ...  I  call  to  thee, 

Against  some  god  known  or  unknown 
I  have  committed  a  sin,  or  have  risen  in  rebellion  ; 

I  fear,  I  am  afraid  of  the  glory  of  the  face  of  thy  divinity,  [thy] 
greatness. 

May  the  water  of  my  grief  reach  thee,  that  the  anger  of  thy  heart 
be  appeased.”  (Scheil,  TJne  Saison  de  fouilles  a  Sippar,  95.) 

Even  saints,  in  modern  Arabic  belief,  can  inflict  sickness  as  a  punish¬ 
ment.  According  to  Curtiss  ( Primitive  Semitic  Religion,  168)  a  woman 
appealed  to  a  saint  (Abbas),  by  shaking  the  pall  on  his  tomb,  that  he 
should  make  her  recalcitrant  lover,  for  whom  she  had  made  her  husband 
divorce  her,  return  to  her,  and  the  saint  visited  him  with  sickness. 
The  marriage  ceremony  was  concluded  at  his  shrine. 

1  A  frequent  name  for  the  sick  man  in  texts  of  this  kind. 

2  Devils ,  i,  Tablet  III,  1.  23  ff. 


H 


98 


SICKNESS  DUE  TO  DEMONS. 


One  of  the  most  important  points  to  notice  in  this 
text  is  the  use  of  mamit,  'the  tabu/1 2  in  parallelism  to 
diseases. 

Again  in  the  same  tablet — 

O 

“  The  sick  man  upon  whom  sickness  hath  seized, 

Fever  (hath  taken  up)  its  seat  upon  him. 

When  I  (the  magician)  draw  near  unto  the  sick  man, 

When  I  examine  the  muscles  of  the  sick  man, 

When  I  compose  his  limbs, 

When  I  sprinkle  the  water  of  Ea  on  the  sick  man, 

When  I  subdue  (?)  the  sick  man, 

When  I  bring  low  the  strength  of  the  sick  man, 

When  I  recite  an  incantation  over  the  sick  man, 

When  I  perform  the  Incantation  of  Eridu, 

May  a  kindly  Spirit,  a  kindly  Guardian  be  present  at  my  side. 
Whether  thou  art  an  evil  Spirit  or  an  evil  Demon, 

♦ 

Or  an  evil  Ghost  or  an  evil  Devil, 

Or  an  evil  God  or  an  evil  Fiend, 

Or  Hag-demon  or  Ghoul  or  Robber-sprite, 

Or  Phantom  of  night,  or  Wraith  of  night, 

Or  Handmaiden  of  the  Phantom, 

Or  evil  Pestilence,  or  noisome  Fever, 

Or  pain,  or  sorcery,  or  any  evil, 

Or  Headache,  or  Shivering,  or  .  .  .  (?),  or  Terror, 

Or  an  evil  man,  or  evil  face, 

Or  evil  spell,  or  evil  tongue,  or  evil  mouth,  or  sorcery,  or 
any  evil, 

Be  thou  removed  from  before  me  ! 

The  fourth  and  fifth  tablets  of  the  same  series  are 
entirely  taken  up  with  descriptions  of  demons  or  ghosts, 
which  have  attacked  the  man  :  “  From  the  man,  the  son 
of  his  god,  may  they  depart  from  his  body,  and  from  his 

1  The  exact  meaning  of  this  word  is  discussed  at  length  later  in 
this  chapter. 

2  Ibid.,  iii,  178  ff. 


SICKNESS  DUE  TO  DEMONS. 


99 


body  may  they  issue  forth !  ” 1  The  sixteenth  tablet  is 
destined  to  avert  the  evil  which  an  eclipse,  caused  by 
the  evil  spirits,  has  apparently  brought  upon  a  man.2 
Tablet  ‘  A 9  begins  with  a  description  of  the  demons 3 
who  “  like  a  flood  are  gathered  together  ” — 

“  (Until)  this  man  revoltetli  against  himself, 

No  food  can  he  eat,  no  water  can  he  drink, 

But  with  woe  each  day  is  he  sated.” 

But  devils  in  general  are  combated  as  sickness  in  the 
series  Asakku  (translated  provisionally  ‘  Fever ’ ;  at  any 
rate  it  is  the  name  of  some  disease),  and  they  are  exorcised 
so  that  they  depart  from  the  body  of  the  sick  man  : — 

44  Fever,  unto  the  man,  against  his  head,  hath  drawn  nigh, 

Disease  ( Namtaru )  unto  the  man,  against  his  life,  hath  drawn  nigh, 

An  evil  Spirit  against  his  neck  hath  drawn  nigh, 

An  evil  Demon  against  his  breast  hath  drawn  nigh, 

An  evil  Ghost  against  his  belly  hath  drawn  nigh, 

An  evil  God  against  his  foot  hath  drawn  nigh  ; 

These  seven  together  have  seized  upon  him, 

His  body  as  (with)  a  consuming  fire  they  devour  (?).”  4 

As  with  Fever,  so  is  it  with  Headache  [tVu)y  which  is 
reckoned  a  demon  coming  forth  from  the  Underworld;5 
Namtaru ,  another  disease,  is  similarly  considered  personified,6 

-o 

1  Devils,  v,  col.  iii,  48  ff. 

2  See  preceding  chapter,  p.  52. 

3  Labasu  in  1.  7,  and  compare  “  they  spare  not  ”  in  1.  5  ;  cf.  also 
11.  33  ff. 

4  Ibid.,  vol.  ii,  Tablet  XI,  1.  1  ff.  Cf.  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture, 
4th  ed.,  127,  of  New  Zealand  folklore:  “We  hear,  too,  of  an  idea 
-of  the  parts  of  the  body — forehead,  breast,  stomach,  feet,  etc. — being 
apportioned  each  to  a  deity  who  inflicts  aches  and  pains  and  ailments 
there.” 

5  Ibid.,  Tablet  ‘  P.5 


6  See  Tablet  ‘  R.’ 


100 


THE  DEMONS  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 


and  the  Spirit  of  the  Evil  Eye  has  been  discussed  elsewhere.1 
Even  in  medical  texts,  which  are  comparatively,  although 
hy  no  means  entirely,  free  from  the  black  art,  a  man  may 
he  filled  by  ahhazu ,  some  form  of  disease  bearing  the  same 
name  as  one  of  the  demons.2  The  vdbisu ,  too,  was  another 
devil  which  could  bring  disease,  to  be  exorcised  in  the 
following  terms : — “  May  Marduk,  eldest  son  of  Eridu, 
sprinkle  him  (the  sick  man)  with  pure  water,  clean  water, 
bright  water,  limpid  water,  with  the  water  twice  seven 
times,  that  be  may  be  pure,  be  clean ;  let  the  evil  rabisu 
demon  go  forth  and  stand  away  from  him  ;  may  a  kindly 
seduy  a  kindly  lamassu,  be  present  near  his  body.” 3 

Leaving  the  period  at  which  these  cuneiform  texts  were 
edited  (i.e.,  from  the  seventh  century  under  the  patronage 
of  Assurbanipal  until  the  decadence  of  the  later  bouthern 
empire),  and  descending  to  New  Testament  times  and 
thought,  the  conceptions  are  of  a  similar  nature.  Conybeare 
gives  a  detail  of  his  results  in  the  examination  of  the 
demonology  of  this  period  as  follows : — “  (1)  The  world  is 
full  of  evil  demons  presided  over  by  Satan.  Without  flesh 
or  bones  they  hover  in  the  air  or  haunt  the  earth,  especially 
its  waterless  places  and  the  neighbourhood  of  tombs.  (2)  They 
cause  in  man  all  sin  and  disease  and  death  .  .  .  To  be  sick 
is  to  have  a  devil  inside  one  .  .  .  (3)  They  are  as  a  rule 
invisible  ...  (4)  They  will  pass  from  one  person  to  anothei, 
and  from  human  beings  into  animals.  (7)  Before  the  advent 


1  See  p.  88. 

2  Kiichler,  Assyr.-Babyl.  Mediziny  60, 11.  28,  30,  31,  etc. 

3  Haupt,  A.S.ICT.y  11,  ii,  11.  73  ff.  Simeon  Lindinger  {Be  Ebrveorum 
veterurti  arte  medica ,  73,  quoting  “  Stanlei  hist,  philos.,  15,  c.  16  ) 
remarks  :  “  Chaldeei  vetustissimi  jam  opinati  sunt,  dcemones  irrepere 
in  ilia,  creare  furorem,  et  morbum  sacrum.” 


THE  DEMONS  OE  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 


101 


of  the  Messiah,  the  Jews  knew  names,  at  the  naming  of 
which  over  the  possessed,  the  demons  took  to  flight.  But 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  authorized  his  followers  to  use  no  name 
but  his  own.”  1 

Take,  for  instance,  the  case  of  the  epileptic  son  in 
Matt,  xvii,  14,  and  Mark  ix,  14 :  “  Master,  I  brought 
unto  thee  my  son,  which  hath  a  dumb  spirit ;  and  whereso¬ 
ever  it  taketh  him,  it  dasheth  him  down ;  and  he  foameth 
and  grindeth  his  teeth  and  pineth  away  .  .  .  And  they 
brought  him  unto  him :  and  when  he  saw  him,  straightway 
the  spirit  tare  him  grievously  :  and  he  fell  on  the  ground 
and  wallowed  foaming.  And  he  asked  his  father,  How 
long  time  is  it  since  this  hath  come  unto  him?  And  he 
said,  From  a  child.  And  oft-times  it  hath  cast  him  both 
into  the  fire  and  into  the  waters.”  Then  Christ  rebukes 
the  unclean  spirit,  saying,  “  Thou  dumb  and  deaf  spirit, 
I  command  thee,  come  out  of  him,  and  enter  no  more 
into  him.  And  having  cried  out  and  torn  him  much,  he 
came  out.”  The  old  ideas  of  the  Arabs  are  the  same, 
trances,  epilepsy,  fever,  epidemics,  and  madness  being  all 
ascribed  to  Jinn,2  and  the  modern  Jews  of  Jerusalem 


1  Demonology  of  the  New  Testament ,  Jewish  Quarterly ,  viii,  588. 

2  Wellhausen,  Reste,  155.  According  to  the  Mosul  tradition,  which 
was  repeated  to  me  by  my  servant  Mejid,  a  certain  monk  of  Der  Mar 
Elia  (a  monastery  about  an  hour’s  distance)  was  appealed  to  by  a  woman 
who  said  she  had  been  abandoned  by  a  caravan  and  left  on  the  road, 
and  she  prayed  for  leave  to  sleep  there.  He  admitted  her,  and  when 
night  came  he  blew  out  his  lamp,  but  hearing  her  approach  softly  he 
kicked  her  out  of  the  monastery  with  one  kick.  Presently  she  came 
back  in  the  guise  of  another  woman,  but  this  time  he  entirely  refused 
her  admittance.  Then  certain  demons  took  counsel  together  and  said  : 
“  He  will  not  sin  with  her,  so  we  must  go  to  the  daughter  of  the  Sultan, 
and  one  of  us  must  enter  her  so  that  she  become  mad  and  make  herself 
naked,  and  he  will  be  defeated.”  And  so  it  fell  out;  but  when  the 


102 


THE  DEMONS  OF  PALESTINE. 


are  in  no  wise  more  advanced  in  their  present  treatment  of 
snch  diseases.  When  a  Jew  is  afflicted  with  madness,  the 
falling  sickness,  or  the  like,  his  room  is  cleaned  and  white¬ 
washed,  all  holy  books  being  removed,  and  the  patient 
may  not  pray  or  mention  holy  words.  The  witch-doctress 
prepares  a  little  wheat,  barley,  salt,  water,  milk,  honey, 
four  or  six  eggs,  and  some  sweetmeats  or  sugar,  and, 
mixing  all  these  together  at  midnight,  she  scatters  some 
of  the  mixture  round  the  sick  bed,  on  the  threshold,  and 
in  the  four  corners  of  the  room,  reciting  in  a  whisper  as 
follows :  — 

“  My  Lords,  I  beseech  you  to  pity,  compassionate,  and 
have  mercy  upon  the  soul  (or  life)  of  your  servant  (or 
slave,  if  it  be  a  woman),  the  patient  (giving  the  name), 
the  son  (or  daughter)  of  your  maid  (giving  the  mother’s 
name),  and  overlook  his  (or  her)  trespass ;  and  if  he  (or 
she)  have  sinned  and  done  any  evil  to  you,  forgive 
and  pardon  his  (or  her)  sins  ;  give  him  (or  her)  life 
and  restore  his  (or  her)  health  and  strength.  (If  to 
a  barren  woman,  she  adds)  Open  her  womb  and  restore 
to  her  the  fruits  of  her  body.  (If  to  those  who  lose 
young  children)  Give  life  to  their  sons  and  daughters, 
and  let  this  honey  (or  sugar)  be  to  sweeten  your  mouths 
and  palates,  the  wheat  and  barley  to  feed  your  cattle  and 
sheep,  and  the  water  and  salt  to  establish  peace,  friendship, 
love,  brotherhood,  an  everlasting  covenant  of  salt  between 
us  and  you.”  Here  she  breaks  the  eggs  and  pours  the 

Sultan  sent  his  servants  to  fetch  the  monk,  the  holy  man  shut  his  eyes 
when  he  drew  near  and  successfully  exorcised  the  demon.  When 
the  demon  came  forth,  the  monk  commanded  that  they  should  bring 
one  of  the  large  stones  used  for  crushing  burghul ,  and  put  it  on  the 
devil’s  head.  They  did  so  and  cut  off  his  head. 


THE  DEMONS  OF  PALESTINE. 


103 


same  in  the  aforementioned  places,  kneels,  and  prostrates 
herself,  kisses  the  ground  several  times,  and  proceeds 
with  these  words :  “  Here  I  offer  you  life  for  life,  in  order 
that  ye  may  restore  the  life  of  this  patient.”  1 

1  A.  Goodrich-Freer,  Some  Jewish  Folklore  from  Jerusalem ,  Folklore , 
1904,  xv,  2,  186.  There  is  a  peculiar  form  of  so-called  demoniac 
possession  in  Abyssinia  : — “I  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  in  Gaffat 
a  case  of  houda.  This  term  is  given  to  a  phenomenon  of  mental 
abstraction,  which  the  natives  explain  as  ‘  being  possessed  by  a  devil.3 
The  case  I  am  about  to  mention  happened  to  a  female  in  the  service  of 
one  of  the  Europeans.  Her  symptoms  began  in  a  kind  of  fainting  fit, 
in  which  the  fingers  were  clenched  in  the  palms  of  the  hands,  the  eyes 
glazed,  the  nostrils  distended,  and  the  whole  body  stiff  and  inflexible. 
Afterwards  she  commenced  a  hideous  laugh  in  imitation  of  the  hyena, 
and  began  running  about  on  all  fours  ;  she  was  then  seized  by  the 
bystanders,  and  a  houda  doctor  having  been  called  in,  this  individual 
began  questioning  her  as  to  the  person  who  had  possessed  her  with  this 
hyena  devil.  She  said  he  was  a  man  living  in  Gooderoo,  south  of 
Abyssinia,  and  also  told  how  long  the  spirit  would  be  in  possession, 
and  what  was  required  to  expel  him.  Great  care  must  be  taken  of 
persons  thus  afflicted,  as  cases  of  this  kind  sometimes  end  in  death. 
All  their  demands  for  dress,  food,  trifles  of  any  sort,  must  be  strictly 
attended  to.  In  the  height  of  the  frenzy  they  will  sometimes  carry  out 
the  idea  of  their  hyena  identity  to  such  an  extent  as  to  attack  any 
animal  that  may  happen  to  be  in  the  way.  One  woman  fancied  she 
would  like  a  little  donkey-flesh  ;  so  to  satisfy  her  strange  taste  she 
seized  hold  by  her  teeth  to  the  hinder  part  of  one  which  happened 
to  be  near.  Off  went  the  astonished  beast  at  a  pace  that  nothing  in 
the  form  of  persuasion  will  lead  him  to  adopt  for  the  gratification  of 
man.  Off,  too,  clinging  tight  with  her  teeth  to  his  haunches,  went 
the  frenzied  girl.  Only  force  would  induce  her  to  forego  the  tender 
morsel. 

“  They  have  several  cures  for  this  strange  attack  ;  but  the  never- 
failing  one  is  a  mixture  of  some  obscene  filth,  which  is  concealed  in 
some  part  of  the  house,  whereupon  the  woman  is  said  to  go  directly  on 
all  fours  to  where  it  is  and  swallow  it.  This  would  seem  incredible 
but  thousands  of  corroborative  facts,  known  to  Abyssinian  residents 
put  it  beyond  a  doubt. 

“  The  power  of  possessing  persons  with  the  devil  is  attributed  mostly 
to  Jewish  blacksmiths  ;  and  women  and  children  are  terrified  when 
they  meet,  in  a  solitary  place,  a  blacksmith  who  is  a  Jew.  These 


104 


THE  DEMONS  OF  PALESTINE. 


Now  the  Arab  belief  shows  how  tenacious  such  super¬ 
stitions  are  in  the  East.1  Curtiss 2  tells  of  a  boy  who  had 
epileptic  fits.  “The  boy  felt  the  spirit  coming  up  through 


sorcerers  are  also  said  to  be  endued  with  the  power  of  changing  the 
shape  of  the  object  of  their  incantations”  (Dufton,  A  Journey  through 
Abyssinia ,  167). 

Stern  describes  the  symptoms  of  the  bouda — “  The  possessed  woman, 
as  if  struck  by  a  magnetic  wire,  burst  into  loud  fits  of  laughter  and 
the  paroxysms  of  a  raving  maniac.  .  .  .  She  tried  to  bite,  kick,  and 
tear  everyone  within  reach  ;  and  when  she  found  herself  foiled  in  all 
those  mischievous  attempts,  she  convulsively  grasped  the  unpaved 
wet  floor,  and  in  imitation  of  the  hyena  gave  utterance  to  the  most 
discordant  sounds.” 

The  cure  was  as  follows.  The  exorcist  “with  one  hand  laid  an 
amulet  on  her  heaving  bosom,  whilst  with  the  other  he  made  her  smell 
a  rag,  in  which  the  root  of  a  strong  scented  plant,  a  bone  of  a  hyena, 
and  some  other  abominable  unguents  were  bound  up  ”  ( Wanderings 
among  the  Falashas ,  154). 

In  exorcising  tigritiya ,  a  form  of  possession  allied  to  the  bouda ,  after 
the  devil  has  been  driven  out  “  a  sheep  or  a  fowl  is  killed,  boiled  on 
the  embers,  and  eaten  with  bread.  The  patient’s  friends  partake  of 
this  food  when  the  devil  goes  out  of  her.  The  bones  and  remains  of 
the  meat  are  burned  with  fire,  and  the  fragments  of  the  bread  buried 
in  the  ground.  These  are  so  left  for  the  devil,  that  if  he  should  come 
back  to  the  place  he  may  remain  and  feed,  and  not  go  on  and  bother 
the  woman”  (Parkyns,  Life  in  Abyssinia ,  300).  All  these  quotations 
are  taken  from  Hayes,  The  Source  of  the  Blue  Nile,  286. 


1  It  is  interesting  to  read  Lucian,  Philopseudes ,  ch.  16,  §  44  : — 
’AUa  Havre's  iaaai  t oi>  'SLvpov  t ov  etc  t f)<z  YlaXaiGriuif^  tov  eirl  tovtwv 
<7of>urrlfv,  ovowi  7rapaXa(iuov  KaTa7ri7nov7a<i  Trpos  t rjv  ae\>fvrfv  ical 
Ttu  bfOaXyu)  biaarpeffiovTa?  Kal  a<ppov  7rig7r\agenov^  to  ajo/ua  o/id'5 
aviGTifcn  Kal  a7ro7re/u7rei  apr/ovs  eVi  jutcrOic  fieyakw  cnraWd^a^  twv 
beiv&v.  e.7retbav  <y ap  eTriaiif  kci /nevoid  Kal  eprjrai  dOev  elaeXrfXvQaaiv 
el 9  to  aCo/JLa,  o  fiev  vog&v  ainos  glwttci ,  6  baigicv  be  cnroKpiuerai 
^EWrjvi^uov  y  flapfiapl^ivv  if  bOe v  dv  avro?  if  o7rtv^  re  Kal  oOev 
ei Tif\0ev  69  r ov  dvOpunrov.  o  be  dpKov 9  eTrdyicv  el  be  gif  ireiaOeirf  Kal 
cnreiK&v  e^eXavuei  tov  balpova.  eyd  youv  Kal  eibov  e^tovra  ye\ava 
Kal  Ka7rvd}bij  7tjv  x poidv . 

2  Prim.  Sem.  Rel.,  153. 


THE  DEMONS  OF  PALESTINE. 


105 


him.  The  Sheik  gave  the  boy  such  a  heavy  blow  on  the 
shoulder  as  to  make  a  wound ;  through  this  wound  the 
spirit  came  out  of  him.”  Among  the  Maronites,  devils 
are  said  to  be  cast  out  in  the  village  churches.  “Many 
stories  are  told,  with  ludicrous  remarks,  of  the  evil  spirit, 
who  may  mock  the  priest,  saying,  ‘  Get  out  of  my  sight, 
you  and  your  cross  ’  ;  or  may  call  out  to  the  crowd, 
proposing  to  enter  this  one  or  that  one,  who  promptly  turns 
and  runs.  In  one  case  it  is  said  that  the  priest  beat  a  girl 
on  the  head  with  his  shoe  for  two  hours  before  a  very 
impudent  spirit  came  out  of  her,  but  at  length  the  pictuie 
of  St.  Antony  floated  of  itself  from  the  altar  and  touched  her 
lips,  whereupon  the  devil  left  her,  and  she  asked  for  food, 
which  she  had  not  touched  for  two  weeks.  1  Iialdensperger 
relates  another  instance  : 2  “  A  woman  living  next  field  to 
ours  in  Jaffa  was  seized  by  a  man  wrapped  in  white,  and 
with  a  pointed  cap  on.  She  was  struck  dumb  by  terror, 
and  ran  into  the  house,  but  could  show  only  by  signs  that 
something  extraordinary  had  happened.  Immediately  a 
skeikh  from  Saknet  Abu  Darwish,  near  by,  was  fetched,  who 
brought  his  sacred  books — ghost-books — and,  to  begin  with, 
administered  a  severe  flogging  to  the  patient ;  then,  burning 
incense  all  the  time,  he  began  questioning— ‘  Who  art 
thou  P ’  (Ghost)  (out  of  the  woman)  ‘  A  Jew/  ‘  How  cam’st 
thou  hither?’  ‘I  was  killed  on  the  spot.’  4  Where  art 
thou  come  from  ?  ’  ‘  I  am  from  Nablus.’  ‘  When  wast 
thou  killed?’  ‘Twelve  years  ago.’  ‘Come  forth  of  this 
woman !  ’  ‘I  will  not.’  ‘ I  have  fire  here  and  will  burn 
thee.’  ‘  Where  shall  I  go  out  ?  ’  ‘  From  the  little  toe. 

‘  I  would  like  to  come  out  by  the  eye,  by  the  nose,  etc.’ 


1  Bliss,  P.E.F.,  1892,  144. 


2  P.E.F. ,  1893,  214. 


106 


THE  DEMONS  OF  PALESTINE. 


After  long  disputing,  the  ghost  with  a  terrible  shake  of 
the  body  and  the  leg,  fled  by  the  toe ; 1  the  exhausted 
woman  lay  down  and  recovered  her  speech.  An  amulet 
was  then  written  and  put  in  a  small  leather  bag,  which 
was  well  waxed  with  beeswax,  through  which  the  Jan  cannot 
penetrate.”  Similarly,  Curtiss2  tells  another  story  of  a  girl 
possessed  by  an  evil  spirit.  “The  holy  man  commanded 
the  spirit  to  come  out  of  her.  He  replied,  ‘  I  will  come 
out  of  her  head.’  ‘  But  if  you  do/  said  the  holy  man, 

‘  you  will  destroy  it.’  ”  At  last  the  spirit  proposed  to  come 
out  of  her  toe,  and  this  was  permitted. 

Earlier  tradition  shows  the  same  thing.  In  the  Greek 
Papyri3  there  are  directions  for  driving  out  a  demon  by 
pronouncing  the  name,  and  applying  sulphur  and  bitumen 
to  the  nostrils,  whereat  it  will  cry  and  go  forth.  Josephus4 
relates  how  he  saw  Eleazar  draw  out  a  malignant  demon 
by  holding  a  ring  under  the  nose  of  the  possessed  man, 
under  the  seal  of  which  was  one  of  the  roots  recommended 
by  Solomon.  By  these  means,  with  magical  incantations, 
he  drew  out  the  evil  demon  through  the  man’s  nostrils. 
Barnabas,  in  the  epistle  ascribed  to  him,  speaks  of  the 
Black  One  getting  a  chance  “of  creeping  into  us”5;  and 
in  Mosul  to-day,  if  a  man  falls  in  a  fit  or  a  faint,  he 
is  supposed  to  have  been  struck  on  the  head  by  Sdda, 

1  For  another  instance  of  the  devil  of  a  possessed  person  coming  out 
of  the  big  toe,  see  Masterman,  Bill.  World ,  1900,  269. 

2  Prim.  Bern.  Rel.,  152. 

3  Leemans,  Papyri  Greed ,  ii,  100,  1.  30  ff.  4  Ant.,  viii,  2,  5. 

0  Quoted  Conybeare,  Demonology  of  New  Testament ,  J.Q.,  viii,  594. 
Porphyry,  being  a  vegetarian,  says  that  those  bad  spirits  (the  Keres) 
specially  delight  in  blood  and  impurities  generally,  and  they  “  creep 
into  people  who  make  use  of  such  things  ”  ( J.  E.  Harrison,  Prolegomena , 

168). 


THE  DEMONS  OE  PALESTINE. 


107 


i.e.  a  black  demon,  though  in  this  case  female.  In  the 
case  of  epilepsy  in  the  same  town,  a  shekh  comes  and  lays 
a  knife  on  the  patient’s  head ;  then  dates  are  brought  and 
fumigated  with  incense,  the  magician  meanwhile  uttering 
various  chants  over  them,  and  then,  after  spitting  on  them, 
he  gives  them  to  the  patient  to  eat.1 

According  to  Sozomen,2  Arsacius  was  endowed  by  God 
with  the  power  of  exorcising  demons.  A  man  possessed 
with  a  demon  once  ran  through  the  market-place  with 
a  naked  sword  in  his  hand.  The  people  fled  from  him, 
and  the  whole  city  was  in  confusion.  Arsacius  went  out 
to  meet  him,  and  called  upon  him  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
and  at  that  name  the  demon  was  expelled,  and  the  man 
restored  to  sanity.  At  the  tomb  of '  Hilarion,  the  divine, 
a  native  of  Thabatha,  near  Gaza,  many  diseases  were 
healed  and  demons  expelled  at  his  tomb.3  There  are  the 
germinal  ideas  of  possession  in  Homer,  the  Sai/jicov  crrvyepos 
causing  a  wasting  sickness  (Od.  v,  396),  and  Scu/iovav 
refers  to  insanity  in  iEschjdus,  Euripides,  Aristophanes, 
and  Plutarch.4  In  the  Palestinian  tradition,  the  cure  for 
a  man  possessed  was  to  take  roots  of  herbs,  burn  them 
under  him,  and  surround  him  with  water,  whereupon  the 
spirit  would  flee.5 

From  these  instances  the  relations  between  devils  and 

1  See  my  article,  P.S.B.A.,  1906,  77.  I  am  indebted  to  M.  Abdullah 
Michael,  of  Mosul,  for  the  latter  exorcism. 

2  Eccles.  Hist.,  bk.  iv,  ch.  xvi. 

3  Ibid.,  bk.  iii,  ch.  xiv. 

i  Encycl.  Bibl.,  1071.  On  the  Greek  ideas  of  epilepsy  see  Hippo¬ 
crates,  ed.  Littre,  vi,  362.  It  is  the  iepa  i/oVo?,  Encycl.  Bibl.,  845. 

5  Pesik ,  ed.  Buber,  40a.  An  Ethiopic  method  is  published  by 
Littmann,  Arde’et,  J.A.O.S.,  xxv,  32  ;  and  for  the  Egyptian  see  the 
story  of  the  Possessed  Princess  of  Bekliten. 


108 


SAVAGE  TABUS. 


disease,  not  only  madness  and  fits,  but  also  fever,  head¬ 
ache,  and  minor  ills,  are  plainly  very  closely  connected  in 
the  savage  Semitic  mind,  and  their  treatment  demands 
a  magician  or  priest  rather  than  a  qualified  doctor.  Having 
established  this  proposition,  the  next  question  that  presents 
itself  is  that  of  the  tabu. 

In  the  primitive  communities  of  modern  savages  there 
are  always  certain  internal  restrictions,  both  social  and 
religious,  arising,  in  the  broadest  sense,  from  the  fear  or 
respect  of  the  supernatural.  The  study  of  this  branch 
of  folklore  has  grown  steadily  with  our  increasing  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  customs  of  savage  tribes,  and  it  provides  us 
with  a  means  of  elucidating  much  that  would  otherwise  be 
inexplicable  in  the  religion  of  the  peoples  of  the  Nearer 
East.  Now,  in  this  custom  of  tabu,  there  is  not  only 
the  idea  of  primary  danger  to  the  person  who  first  incurs 
the  tabu  by  his  actions,  but  there  is  also  a  secondary 
contagious  ban  to  which  anyone  may  become  liable  from 
communication  with  the  tabooed  man,  or  things  belonging 
to  him.1  The  savage  believes  that  supernatural  beings  can 
and  will,  in  their  more  hostile  character,  exercise  an 
influence  (in  the  widest  sense)  over  such  human  beings  as 
thus  incur  the  risk  of  their  visitations,  and  that  the 
person  thus  tabooed  can  communicate  his  dangerous  state 
by  contagion. 

The  reason  for  the  origin  of  this  secondary  superstition 
is  not  far  to  seek ;  the  primitive  conception  of  contagious 
tabu  arose  from  the  savage  argument  from  the  particular 


A  most  convincing  indication  of  this  among  the  Hebrews  is  shown 
in  Hum.  xvi,  26  :  “  Depart,  I  pray  you,  from  the  tents  of  these  wicked 
men,  and  touch  nothing  of  theirs,  lest  ye  be  consumed  in  all  their  sins.” 


THE  REASON  FOR  THE  TABU  ON  A  CORPSE.  109 


to  the  general.  This  will  be  the  more  apparent  if  we 
take  the  obvious  case  of  a  man  who  has  died  in  his  bed 
of  some  infectious  disease.  If  savage  man  in  his  innocence 
meddles  with  the  corpse  or  takes  the  infected  bed  to  his 
kraal,  the  chances  are  seriously  in  favour  of  his  contracting 
the  same  disease  also  within  a  short  time.  His  fellow- 
tribesmen  can  then  explain  his  death  in  two  ways.  Either 
it  is  the  ghost  of  the  dead  man  returning  to  plague  the 
careless  savage  who  has  now,  by  his  act,  established  that 
connection  which  must  always  exist  between  spirits  and 
mortals  before  a  ghost  is  in  a  position  1  to  demand 
its  due  rites ;  or  the  man  has  attracted  the  hostility  of 
the  evil  spirit  who  overcame  the  dead  man,  and  will 
brook  no  interference  with  his  prey.  It  is  immaterial, 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  origin  of  contagious  tabu, 
which  view  we  take,  and  probably  primitive  man  would 
have  some  difficulty  in  making  any  certain  distinction; 
contagious  tabu  must  have  arisen  in  some  such  manner, 
whatever  the  savage  explanation  may  have  been.  Of 
course,  this  holds  good  only  in  the  case  of  the  man  who 
has  died  of  sickness,  but  it  is  from  this  very  case  that 
the  savage  probably  argues  that  all  dead  bodies  and  their 
belongings  are  dangerous.  He  probably  draws  no  rigid 
distinction  between  those  that  die  naturally  in  their  beds 
or  are  carried  off  by  disease,  and  so  the  corpse  of  the  one 
is  as  much  tabu  as  that  of  the  other.  Hence,  just  as  he 
assumes  that  all  dead  bodies  are  unclean  through  the 
potentialities  of  the  souls  for  evil,  so  also  will  he  consider 
any  bed  on  which  people  have  died  capable  of  transmitting 

1  See  p.  24,  where  it  is  clear  that  the  soul  of  a  dead  man  can  bring 
sickness  on  a  man  who  has  had  some  connection  with  him  during  life. 


110 


UNCLEAN  TABUS. 


the  dangerous  tabu,  because  be  has  seen  contagion  arise 
in  the  special  case  of  the  disease-infected  belongings.  By 
analog}^  in  the  case  of  tbe  other  unclean  tabus,  the 
belongings  of  such  persons  who  are  under  these  tabus  are 
also  unclean  and  dangerous. 

The  foregoing  short  explanation  has  been  offered  as 
a  standpoint  round  which  the  evidence  brought  forward 
in  this  chapter  may  centre,  and  we  shall  be  better  able 
to  see  to  what  degree  the  Semites  had  evolved  a  systematic 
and  workable  theory  concerning  the  tabus  of  uncleanness. 

It  is  naturally  the  tabu  of  uncleanness,  distinct  from 
the  other,  that  of  holiness,  that  we  have  to  deal  with 
in  particular.  The  tabu  of  holiness  is  the  outcome  of 
the  fear  of  transgression  against  the  divinity,  or,  what 
comes  to  the  same  thing,  respect  for  the  godhead;  but 
the  tabu  of  uncleanness  has  a  very  different  origin, 
although  fear  of  the  supernatural  is  at  the  base  of  this 
also.  It  is  easy  to  assume  that  a  breach  of  some  of 
the  4  unclean  ’  laws  is  un pleasing  to  the  tribal  god, 
particularly  in  the  Biblical  legislation ;  but  this  theory 
does  not  account  for  the  whole  of  even  these,  not  to 
mention  tbe  far  wider  scope  of  the  ordinary  savage 
tabus  of  the  present  day.  As  Robertson  Smith  points 
out,  this  assumption  is  a  later  development  to  be  found 
in  the  Levitical  Law.1 

We  have,  then,  to  discuss  the  similarities  of  modern 
savage  ‘  unclean  *  tabus  with  the  ancient  Semitic  laws, 
particularly  as  they  are  found  in  the  Old  Testament,  the 
cuneiform  tablets,  and  the  writings  of  Arabic  and  Syriac 
authors.  The  tabus  on  holy  things  are  comparatively 


1  Religion  of  the  Semites ,  153. 


ROBERTSON  SMITH  ON  TABU. 


Ill 


well  known,  and  it  is  the  ‘  unclean  ’  tabus  which  are  still 
somewhat  obscure. 

The  following  are  quotations  from  what  Robertson  Smith, 
in  his  Religion  of  the  Semites ,  says  of  the  two  forms  of 
tabu,  holiness  and  uncleanness.  He  goes  into  the  question 
very  thoroughly ;  he  shows  “  that  holiness  is  essentially 
a  restriction  on  tbe  licence  of  man  in  tbe  free  use  of 
natural  things/’ 1  and  that  “  the  ancient  Semites,  like 
other  early  races,  deemed  holiness  to  be  propagated  by 
physical  contagion.” 2  “  When  men  establish  relations 

with  the  powers  that  haunt  a  spot,  it  is  at  once  necessary 
that  there  should  be  rules  of  conduct  towards  them  and 
their  surroundings.  These  rules,  moreover,  have  two 
aspects.  On  the  one  hand,  the  god  and  his  worshippers 
form  a  single  community  —  primarily,  let  us  suppose, 
a  community  of  kinship — and  so  all  the  social  laws  that 
regulate  men’s  conduct  towards  a  clansman  are  applicable 
to  their  relations  to  a  god.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
god  has  natural  relations  to  certain  physical  things,  and 
these  must  be  respected  also ;  he  has  himself  a  natural 
life  and  natural  habits  in  which  he  must  not  be  molested 
.  .  .  In  all  their  dealings  with  natural  things  men  must 
be  on  their  guard  to  respect  the  divine  prerogative,  and 
this  they  are  able  to  do  by  knowing  and  observing  the 
rules  of  holiness,  which  prescribe  definite  restrictions  and 
limitations  in  their  dealings  with  the  god  and  all  natural 
things  that  in  any  way  pertain  to  the  god.” 3  Among 

1  p.  150.  2  p.  146. 

3  p.  151.  “  The  penalty  for  the  violation  of  a  tabu  was  either 

religious  or  civil.  The  religious  penalty  inflicted  by  the  offended 
atuas  or  spirits  generally  took  the  form  of  a  disease  :  the  offender 


112 


CUNEIFORM  TABLETS  AND  TABU. 


savages,  as  lie  says,  all  tabus  clo  not  belong  to  leligion 
proper,  but  appear  in  many  cases  to  be  precautions 
against  contact  with  evil  spirits  and  tbe  like,1  and  it  is 
with  these  latter  that  we  are  concerned.  “Women  after 
childbirth,  men  who  have  touched  a  dead  body,  and  so 
forth,  are  temporarily  taboo  and  separated  from  human 
society,  just  as  the  same  persons  are  unclean  in  Semitic 
religion.  In  these  cases  the  person  under  taboo  is  not 
regarded  as  holy,  for  he  is  separated  from  approach  to 
the  sanctuary  as  well  as  from  contact  with  men  ;  but 
his  act  or  condition  is  somehow  associated  with  super¬ 
natural  dangers,  arising,  according  to  the  common  savage 
explanation,  from  the  presence  of  formidable  spirits 
which  are  shunned  like  an  infectious  disease.  .  .  .  In 
rules  of  holiness  the  motive  is  respect  for  the  god,  in 
rules  of  uncleanness  it  is  primarily  fear  of  an  unknown 
or  hostile  power,  though  ultimately,  as  we  see  in  the 
Levitical  legislation,  the  law  of  clean  and  unclean  may 
be  brought  within  the  sphere  of  divine  ordinances,  on 
the  view  that  uncleanness  is  hateful  to  God  and  must 
be  avoided  by  all  that  have  to  do  with  Him. 

Since  the  publication  of  Robertson  Smith’s  erudite  and 
scientific  work,  the  study  of  the  cuneiform  inscriptions 
has  provided  a  new  factor  in  the  interpretation  of  Semitic 
religion.  The  translations  of  Assyrian  texts  had  not,  at 
the  time  that  he  wrote,  reached  a  pitch  of  sufficient 
accuracy  to  be  trustworthy;  nor  was  enough  material  at 


swelled  up  and  died,  the  notion  being  that  the  atua  or  emissary  (often 
an  infant  spirit)  had  entered  into  him  and  devoured  his  vitals” 
( Encycl .  Brit.,  art.  Tabu). 

1  p,  152. 


2  p.  153. 


113 


TABU  0^  MARRIAGE,  ETC. 

hand  to  enable  him  to  avail  himself  of  this  most  important 
branch  of  the  science.  But  since  then  hundreds  of  tablets 
bearing  on  the  subject  have  been  made  available  to  scholars, 
and  the  value  that  they  have  in  this  study  cannot  be  over¬ 
estimated,  as  they  represent  a  series  of  beliefs  probably 
far  more  ancient  than  the  epoch  at  which  the  tablets 
which  we  now  possess  were  actually  written.  Further,  the 
translations  are  now  much  more  trustworthy,  partly  because 
of  the  large  number  of  new  texts  now  published,  which 
afford  ample  means  of  explaining  doubtful  phrases  by 
parallel  passages,  and  partly  because  Assyriology  has  made 
rapid  strides  in  other  branches  in  the  last  two  decades. 
The  whole  of  the  Assyrian  religion  is  therefore  a  com¬ 
paratively  fresh  source  to  draw  from,  and  it  is  in  the 
arcana  of  exorcisms  and  magical  invocations  that  we  may 
hope  to  find  material  to  explain  some  of  the  difficult 
questions  of  the  tabus  of  uncleanness. 

Starting  with  this  clue,  and  taking  savage  beliefs  as 
the  handmaid  of  our  investigations,  we  shall  see  that, 
besides  the  tabus  on  the  dead,  the  uncleanness  that  rests 
with  all  sexual  functions  is  most  marked.  Marriage, 
a  woman  in  her  courses,1  or  the  man  with  an  issue,  the 
birth  of  a  child  (with  the  risk  to  which  all  babes  appear 
liable  until  some  time  after  birth),  are  all  curiously 
tabooed,  and,  as  Robertson  Smith  says,  are  nevertheless 
“  often  involuntary,  and  often  innocent,  or  even  necessary 
to  society.  The  savage,  accordingly,  imposes  a  taboo  on 
a  woman  in  childbed,  or  during  her  courses,  and  on 
the  man  who  touches  a  corpse,  not  out  of  any  regard 
for  the  gods,  but  simply  because  birth  and  everything 

Particularly  the  first  occasion. 


x 


114 


TABU  ON  THE  CORPSE. 


connected  with  the  propagation  of  the  species  on  the  one 
hand,  and  disease  and  death  on  the  other,  seem  to  him  to 
involve  the  action  of  superhuman  agencies  of  a  dangerous 
kind.”  1  It  lies  with  us  now  to  follow  this  line  of  thought, 
and  see  why  this  should  be,  and  how  it  affects  the  Semitic 
religion,  not  only  in  the  more  obvious  precautions  against 
demons,  but  in  the  theories  of  the  Atonement  and  of  the 
first-born. 

The  tabu  on  dead  bodies  is  the  most  obvious  at  first  sight, 
and  one  that  is  frequently  met  with  in  Semitic  literature. 
Among  the  Israelites,  all  that  were  unclean  through  the 
dead  were  put  outside  the  camp  so  as  not  to  defile  it,2  and 
in  the  Mohammedan  religion  ablution  is  necessary  after 
approaching  a  dead  body.3  In  the  Apocrypha,  Tobit,  after 
having  buried  a  corpse,  sleeps  by  the  wall  of  the  courtyard 
as  one  who  is  polluted.4  The  dead  Galloi  priests  of  Syria 
were  borne  to  the  suburbs  by  their  companions  to  be 
buried,  and  stones  were  there  piled  on  them.  Those  that 
bore  them  were  not  allowed  to  enter  the  temple  for  seven 
days  after,  lest  the  act  should  be  nefas,  or  if  any  of  them 
looked  on  a  corpse  he  was  unclean  for  that  day,  and  not 
allowed  to  enter  the  temple,  but  after  that  day  he  might 
be  cleansed.  Those  who  belonged  to  the  family  of  the  dead 
man  were  tabu  for  thirty  days,  and  might  only  then  enter 
with  shaven  head.5  The  Nestorians  were  accustomed,  in 
going  out  of  the  village  with  the  corpse,  to  lay  the  bier 


1  Religion  of  the  Semites ,  446. 

2  Num.  v,  1  ;  cf.  Num.  ix,  6.  In  old  Israel  kings  were  buried  near 
the  temple,  thus  defiling  it  (Ezek.  xliii,  7-9). 

3  Sale,  Koran,  Prelim.  Disc.,  sect.  iv. 

4  Tobit  ii,  9. 

5  Lucian,  De  Syria  Dea,  ed.  Joannis  Benedicti,  ii,  682. 


TABU  ON  THE  CORPSE  IN  ASSYRIA. 


115 


in  a  clean  place  and  there  perform  fully  three  ‘ unin / 
Here  the  ‘  clean  place  ’  is,  as  it  is  in  the  atonement  ritual 
of  the  Hebrews  and  Assyrians,  not  a  euphemism  for  an 
‘  unclean  place/  but  a  spot  where  there  is  least  likelihood 
of  the  presence  of  demons,  always  unwelcome  visitors  at 
funerals.  With  the  Arabs,  a  piece  of  iron  or  a  sword  is 
placed  on  the  belly  of  the  corpse  “  to  prevent  its  becoming 
swollen,”  which  presumably  means  that  the  iron,  always 
powerful  in  magic,  will  prevent  the  return  of  the  spirit.1 2 3 
For  the  same  reason  the  orifices  of  the  body,  whereby 
a  ghost  might  force  entrance,  are  closed,  the  jaw  being 
bound  up,  the  eyes  shut,  and  the  nostrils  and  other  openings 
stuffed  with  cotton.0  Doughty  tells  of  a  man  who  refused 
to  descend  a  well  haunted  by  Jinn  before  filling  his  ears 
with  cotton,4  and  when  It.  Jossi  went  into  unclaimed 
ground  (a  likely  haunt  of  devils)  with  cotton  wadding  in 
his  ears,  all  his  contemporaries  objected.5  In  the  Talmud  6 
it  is  said  that  if  a  man  who  has  just  been  bled  goes  out 
and  meets  a  corpse,  his  face  will  become  yellow ;  if  he 
meets  a  murderer,  he  will  die  ;  or  if  a  pig,  he  will  become 
scabby. 

Among  the  Assyrians,  the  danger  of  tabu  from  a  corpse 
is  amply  vouched  for  by  the  cuneiform  tablets.  To  look 
on  a  dead  body  demanded  a  purifying  ceremony,7  and  if 
a  hostile  wizard  laid  the  waxen  effigy  of  a  man  near  a 
corpse,  subsequent  evil  was  sure  to  attack  the  victim.8 

1  For  a  full  description  of  the  Nestorian  ritual  for  washing  the  dead, 
etc.,  see  the  MS.  (a.d.  1735)  published  by  Isaac  H.  Hall,  Hebraica ,  iv,  82. 

2  Klein,  Religion  of  Islam,  147.  On  iron  as  a  protection  against  evil, 
see  Goldziher,  Archiv  fur  Religionwissenschaft,  1907,  41. 

3  Lane,  Arabian  Nights ,  vi,  note  H.  4  Arabia  Deserta ,  ii,  199. 

5  Sabbath ,  ed.  Rodkinson,  i,  126.  6  Ibid.,  ii,  286. 

7  See  p.  26.  8  See  p.  35. 


116 


TABU  ON  MENSTRUATION. 


It  is  the  Assyrian  literature  which  shows  the  clearest  of 
all  that  the  spirit  may  return  to  attack  those  with  whom 
it  has  been  connected  in  life.1  The  departed  spirit  is  never 
very  far  distant  from  its  earthly  remains,  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  if  a  man  contract  a  disease  after  touching  a  corpse, 
his  illness  is  supposed  to  he  due  perhaps  to  the  devil  who 
has  killed  his  friend,  but  more  probably  to  the  return  of 
the  ghost,2  The  ghost  becomes  a  malignant  spirit  who  will 
resent  any  meddling  with  its  body,  or  will  inflict  disease 
on  its  descendants  or  connections  in  order  to  obtain  its  due 
rites.  Hence  arises  the  tabu  on  corpses,  and  this  explanation 
will  be  of  service  in  a  fuller  understanding  of  the  tabus  on 
the  sexual  functions.3 

These  sexual  tabus  were  long  ago  clearly  shown  to 
exist  among  certain  of  the  Semites  by  Robertson  Smith, 
who  brought  forward  evidence  of  the  tabu  on  menstruation4 
from  the  Koran,5  etc.,  for  the  Arabs,  Fihrist6  for  the 
Syrian  heathen,  while  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  quote 
Leviticus7  and  Numbers8  for  the  Hebrews.  It  was  said 
also  that  the  black  stone  of  the  Caaba  became  black  (from 
being  white)  by  the  touch  of  a  menstruous  woman.9 
As  Robertson  Smith  has  shown,  there  were  special  tabus 
against  sexual  intercourse  at  certain  definite  times  among 
the  Arabs,  Minaeans,  and  Hebrews.10  The  rules  of  sexual 

i  See  p.  24.  2  See  p.  24. 

3  On  the  question  of  tabooing  a  murderer  among  savage  tribes  see 
Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  i,  332  ff.  It  seems  clear  that  the  man  is  tabu 

from  the  fear  of  the  ghost  returning.  Frazer  quotes  Num.  xxxi,  19-24. 

4  Bel.  Sem .,  446  ff.  5  h,  222.  See  Wellhausen,  Reste,  170  ff. 

6  319,  1.  18.  7  xv  ;  xxii,  4. 

8  v  p  9  Sale,  Koran ,  Prelim.  Disc .,  sect.  iv. 

10  Rel.  Sem.,  454.  Compare  :  “  If  ye  be  sick,  or  on  a  journey,  or  any 

of  you  come  from  easing  nature,  or  have  touched  women,  and  find  no 


AMONG  THE  HEBREWS. 


117 


uncleanness  for  these  latter  are  very  strict,  and  the  Old 
Testament  laws  are  full  of  them.1 

To  add  a  few  more  examples  to  those  quoted  by 
Robertson  Smith,  we  may  mention  that  Josephus  says 
that  everyone,  even  foreigners,  were  allowed  to  enter 
the  first  court  of  the  Temple  except  menstruous  women.2 
According  to  the  Talmud,  if  a  woman  at  the  beginning 
of  her  period  passes  between  two  men,  she  thereby  kills 
one  of  them ;  if  she  passes  between  them  towards  the 
end  of  her  period,  she  causes  them  to  quarrel  violently.3 
In  JETorioth 4  the  following  ten  objects  interfere  with 
one’s  studies  :  “  passing  under  the  rope  of  a  camel,  and 
particularly  under  the  camel  itself  ;  passing  between  two 
camels,  between  two  women,  the  passing  of  a  woman 
between  two  men,  passing  through  the  obnoxious  odour 
of  a  carcase,  passing  under  a  bridge  where  nature  has 


water,  take  fine  clean  sand  and  rub  your  faces  and  your  hands  there¬ 
with  ”  (Sale,  Koran,  Surah  v). 

1  Lev.  xv,  18,  and  the  tabu  against  approaching  Sinai  after  such  an 
act  (Ex.  xix,  15).  Sexual  intercourse  is  forbidden  in  a  room  wherein 
is  a  Sepher  Torah  (Roll  of  the  Law),  unless  this  be  placed  in  a  panel 
ten  spans  higher  than  the  bed,  or  enveloped  in  a  cloth  (Berakhoth, 
iii,  4,  ed.  Schwab,  68).  For  the  ba'al  k'ri  (man  unclean  by 
nocturnal  pollution),  Lev.  xv,  16.  In  Berakhoth  (iii,  4,  ed.  Schwab, 
63)  the  baJal  k'ri  is  directed  to  make  only  a  mental  recitation,  without 
accompanying  it  with  anterior  or  posterior  benediction.  Compare 
Iamblichus,  On  the  Mysteries,  ed.  Taylor,  2nd  ed.,  1895,  9-10  : 
u  Though  the  Gods,  likewise,  do  not  hear  him  who  invokes  them,  if  he 
is  impure  from  venereal  connections,  yet,  at  the  same  time,  they  do 
not  refuse  to  lead  any  one  to  illegal  venery,”  and  “  why  is  it  requisite 
that  the  inspector  [who  presides  over  the  sacred  rites]  ought  not  to 
touch  a  dead  body  1  ” 

2  Against  Apion,  i,  §  8,  ed.  Shilleto. 

3  Mergel,  Die  Medizin  der  Talmudisten ,  15,  quoted  Frazer,  G.B. , 
iii,  223. 

4  Talmud,  ed.  Rodkinson,  x,  27. 


118 


AMONG  THE  HEBREWS. 


not  been  running  for  forty  days,  the  eating  of  half- 
baked  bread,  of  meat  taken  out  with  the  spoon  with 
which  skimming  is  done,  drinking  from  a  well  streaming 
through  a  cemetery,  looking  on  the  face  of  a  corpse.” 
Almost  evei^one  of  these  is  an  obvious  tabu. 

Rabbinic  laws  elsewhere  demand  that  a  woman  during 
all  the  days  of  her  separation  shall  be  as  if  under  a  ban. 
A  story  is  told  of  a  woman  whose  husband  died  in  the 
prime  of  life,  and  she  made  plaint  to  Elijah.  “  What,” 
said  the  prophet,  “was  his  wont  with  thee  in  the  first 
days  of  thy  separation  P  ”  “  Rabbi,  he  did  not  even  touch 

me  with  his  little  finger.”  “But  in  the  last  days?” 
asked  Elijah  ;  and  she  answered,  “  Rabbi,  I  used  to  eat 
and  drink  with  him,  and  to  sleep  with  him  fully  dressed 
on  the  bed,  and  his  body  touched  mine,  but  with  no 
intention  of  anything  else.”  Then  said  Elijah,  “  Blessed 
be  the  Omnipotent  that  killed  him,  because  it  is  written 
(Lev.  xviii,  19)  ‘Shalt  thou  not  approach.’”1  There  is 
a  story  in  the  Leaflet  Callah  2  of  a  woman  saying,  “When 
I  entered  my  bridal  chamber  I  was  a  Niddah,  and  con¬ 
sequently  my  husband  kept  away  from  me,  and  there 
came  unto  me  a  wedding  guest,  and  this  son  was  (born) 
to  me.  Thus  it  was  found  that  the  boy  was  a  bastard, 
and  a  Ben  hanniddah.”  It  is  to  be  noted  that  INIddah 
(a  woman  in  her  courses)  is  from  the  root  HID  which  in 

'  T  T) 

Piel  means  ‘  to  lay  under  a  ban.’ 

In  Palestine  at  the  present  day,  women  in  their  separation 
are  not  allowed  into  the  presence  of  a  woman  in  childbed, 

1  Ibid.,  Tract.  Aboth,  i  (ix),  11, 12.  According  to  Rabbinic  tradition, 
menstruation  and  the  pain  of  primae  noctis  were  part  of  the  curse  of 
Eve,  ibid.,  6. 

2  Quoted  Hershon,  Talm.  Misc .,  44. 


IN  PALESTINE. 


119 


as  very  serious  illness  is  believed  to  follow  such  visits.1 
In  Syria  a  woman  that  has  her  courses  may  neither  salt 
nor  pickle,  for  the  people  think  that  whatever  she  might 
prepare  thus  would  not  keep.2  One  of  the  three  important 
duties  among  the  Jewesses  in  Palestine  is  to  attend  to 
the  special  regulation  for  their  sex  regarding  ceremonial 
uncleanness,3  the  other  two  being  to  throw  a  lump  of  dough 
on  the  fire  on  the  eve  of  the  Sabbath  and  to  light  the 
Sabbath  candles.  To  neglect  these  means  suffering  in  child¬ 
birth.  Maimonides 4  says  that  “  the  practice  of  the  Sabians, 
even  at  present  general  in  the  East,  among  the  few 
still  left  of  the  Magi,  was  to  keep  a  menstruous  woman  in 
a  house  by  herself,  to  burn  that  upon  which  she  treads, 
and  to  consider  as  unclean  everyone  that  speaks  with  her  ; 
even  if  a  wind  passed  over  her  and  a  clean  person,  the 
latter  was  unclean  in  the  eyes  of  the  Sabians.”  According 
to  Zoroaster,  the  menstruous  flow,  at  least  in  its  abnormal 
manifestations,  is  a  work  of  Ahriman,  or  the  devil.5 

Arguing  from  the  known  to  the  unknown,  the  next 
question  that  arises  is  how  far  these  tabus  have  been  met 
with  in  the  Assyrian  religious  texts.  We  have  seen  that 

1  Baldensperger,  P.E.F. ,  1894,  129. 

2  Eiju  b  A  beta,  Zeits.  des  dents.  Palaest.  Vereins .,  vii,  111,  quoted  Frazer, 
G.  Z>.,  iii,  224. 

3  Masterman,  Bibl.  World ,  xxi,  277. 

4  Guide  to  the  Perplexed ,  iii,  xlvii.  See  Ohwolsobn,  Die  Ssabier,  ii,  483. 

5  Darmesteter,  Zend-Avesta,  i,  xcii.  In  the  Talmud  ( Yoma ,  viii,  1, 
ed.  Schwab,  vol.  v,  247)  it  is  the  woman  in  childbed  who  is  allowed  to 
wear  sandals  on  the  Day  of  Atonement,  “  lest  she  catch  cold  ”  by 
leaving  them  off  as  other  folks  must.  But  the  reason  is  probably  from 
the  danger  to  others  who  tread  in  her  footsteps,  as  this  passage  from 
Maimonides  clearly  shows.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  question  whether 
this  coincides  with  the  admonition  of  Berakhoth  (iii,  ed.  Schwab,  59), 
that  one  carrying  a  dead  body  should  go  without  shoes,  “for  it  may 
happen  that  a  shoe  be  torn  and  he  be  interrupted  in  this  religious  duty.” 


120 


AMONG  THE  ASSYRIANS. 


the  savage  tabus  on  all  circumstances  connected  with 
birth  exist  among  the  Arabs,  Syrians,  and  Hebrews ;  it 
should  therefore  be  no  difficult  thing  to  prove  the  same 
superstitions  in  Assyria.  Indeed,  the  extraordinary  thing 
would  be  if  the  law  of  the  unclean  tabu  were  not  the 
same  in  all  the  Semitic  tribes. 

With  regard  to  the  woman  in  her  courses,  the  tablet, 
S.  49 1  throws  some  light  on  this  tabu.  It  is  a  lexico¬ 
graphical  text,  evidently  describing  ghosts,  and  there  are 
mentioned  therein  (a)  ardat  lili  ina  apti  ameli  izzika 
(b)  ardatu  la  simta  (c)  ardatu  sa  1dm a  sinnisti  la  arihatu 
(d)  ardatu  sa  kima  sinnisti  la  nakpatu.  “  (a)  The  ghoul 
( ' lilith )  works  harm  in  the  dwelling  of  a  man,  (b)  the  maid 
(who  has  died)  before  her  time,2  (c)  the  maid  who  cannot 
menstruate  as  women  do,  (cl)  the  maid  who  hath  no 
womanly  modesty  (?).”  The  word  in  (c)  is  probably  to 
be  connected  with  arhu,  ‘month.’  Now,  although  nothing 
is  said  of  any  tabu  here,  it  is  clear  that  in  (a)  a  spirit  is 
meant,  and  hence  ( b ),  (c),  and  (d)  will  all  he  ghosts  of 
some  kind.  As  a  matter  of  fact  they  come  into  the  same 
category  as  the  ghost  of  the  nursing  mother,  the  sacred 
courtesan,  and  the  others  mentioned  on  p.  19 ;  they  are 
maidens  dead  through  some  peculiarity.  Hence  some 
mystical  significance  was  clearly  attached  to  the  absence 
of  this  monthly  function,  or  there  would  have  been  no 
mention  of  the  girl  in  such  a  list  of  ghosts. 

There  is,  as  a  kind  of  cumulative  evidence,  the  in¬ 
cantation  that  mentions  the  “  woman  with  unwashen 

1  Text  quoted  Bezold,  Catalogue ,  1376.  See  also  p.  67. 

2  La  simta  appears  to  be  an  apocopated  phrase.  Simtu  is  ‘  destiny,1 
and  there  is  a  phrase  ina  um  la  simtisu  urruhis  imtut,  “  he  died  before 
his  time  ”  (see  Muss-Arnolt,  Lid.,  sub  voce). 


TABU  ON  MARRIAGE  IN  ASSYRIA. 


121 


hands  ”  ; 1  it  is  clear  at  least  that  women  particularly 
might  in  some  fashion  be  unclean,  if  the  text  does  not 
offer  an  ulterior  meaning,  after  the  fashion  of  Semitic 
euphemisms ;  further,  in  one  of  the  ‘  Headache  ’ 2  tablets 
it  is  laid  down  that  it  is  to  be  an  ‘  old  woman  ’  ( parsumtu ) 
who  is  to  bray  certain  vegetables  together  with  clean  hands 
to  make  a  medicament  for  the  aching  head  of  the  sick 
man.  This  can  only  mean  that  she  is  past  the  age  of 
risk  from  such  tabus.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  no  limit  is  given  as  to  the  age  of  the 
‘  wise  woman  ’  employed  in  spinning  the  magic  cord.3 
In  the  Apocrypha4  it  is  said  of  the  Babylonian  gods  that 
“  the  menstruous  woman  and  the  woman  in  childbed 
touch  their  sacrifices,”  but  there  is  no  need  to  take  this 
literally.  It  does  show  that  the  writer,  who  became  thus 
patriotically  abusive,  was  well  aware  of  the  uncleanness 
of  suck  a  proceeding.  How  much  reliance  must  be  placed 
on  this  statement  is  consonant  with  the  improbability  of 
a  woman  in  childbed  having  anything  to  do  with  sacrifices. 

The  tablet  K.  2389  prescribes  the  ceremonies  with 
which  the  Assyrians  cleansed  themselves  after  marriage 
or  the  k'ri.  They  run  as  follows  : — (1)  \Enuma  ina  (?) 
na  zikaru  u  sinnistu  lu  ina  musi  la  ina  nim  mu  si  In  .  .  . 


lu  enurna  ina  maiali-su  sinati-su 


[wssw]  (2)  siptu  llu  Samsu 


sar  same(e)  a  irsitim(tim)  inim-inim-ma  enuma  amelu  lu 
ina  sutti  lu  ina  bari  (?)  lu  mu  -  du  -  a  lu  la  mu  -  du  -  u 
tulu-su  u-  ...  ( 3)  nam  -  bul  -  bi  -  hul  zikaripl  u  sinni- 


satipl  suDpi  ana  a  -  ha  -  mis  .  .  . 

“  jAVhen  are  in]  cohabitation  a  man  and  woman  either 
in  the  night,  or  in  ...  of  the  night,  or  .  .  .  ,  or  when 


2  ix,  132. 


4  Baruch  vi,  29. 


1  See  p.  129. 


3  Ibid.,  75. 


122 


TABU  ON  CHILDBIRTH  IN  ASSYRIA. 


on  his  bed  his  urine  [goes  forth]  ;  Incantation  ‘  0  Sun- 
god,  king  of  heaven  and  earth.’  Prayer  for  when  a  man 
either  in  a  dream  or  in  a  vision  (P),  witting  or  unwitting, 
his  breast  ...  A  ceremony  to  free  from  evil,  for  distant  (?) 
men  and  women  who  ...  to  one  another  ...” 

The  restorations,  which  I  have  suggested,  seem  quite 
probable,  and  it  is  evident  that  both  cohabitation  and  the 
k’ri  were  reckoned  as  unclean  among  the  Assyrians  as 
among  other  Semites.  Moreover,  the  rt/w-demon  may  be 
created  “  on  a  bed  of  night  in  sleep,”  and  this  is  good 
evidence  for  a  tabu  in  such  a  case.1  With  regard  to  the 
cohabitation-tabu,  Herodotus  2  adds  additional  proof  to 
our  tablet,  by  saying  that  among  the  Babylonians  and 
Arabs  every  act  of  sexual  intercourse  was  immediately 
followed  by  a  fumigation  and  an  ablution. 

For  the  tabu  on  childbirth,  two  tablets3  seem  to  throw 
light  on  Assyrian  beliefs.  These  give  the  various  cere¬ 
monies  and  rites  to  be  performed  for  women  in  such 
a  condition.  That  such  rites  exist  is  enough  to  show  that 
some  supernatural  evil  had  to  he  guarded  against,  and 
hence  the  fear  of  risk  in  childbirth  was  associated  with 
ghostly  dangers  equally  among  the  Assyrians  as  by  other 
nations.  Moreover,  when  it  is  remembered  that  one  of 
the  Assyrian  ghosts  is  the  woman  who  has  died  in  giving 
birth  to  a  child,  it  requires  little  acumen  to  deduce  that 
a  woman  in  such  a  state  was  held  to  be  in  close  relation 
with  demoniac  influences.  It  is  the  same  form  of  argument 
that  holds  good  for  the  corpse ;  the  dead  man  becomes 

1  i.e.,  on  the  analogy  of  his  Rabbinic  traditions  that  the  ba'al  JcWi 
had  had  union  with  a  restless  spirit  who  would  bear  him  children. 

2  i,  198. 

3  R.  2413  and  K.  11647,  see  Bezold,  Catalogue,  441  and  1183. 


THE  MAMIT  OR  TABU. 


123 


a  ghost,  potentially  malignant  to  those  that  meddle  with 
the  body,  which  is  therefore  held  to  be  tabu. 

As  it  is  now  clear,  I  think,  that  the  Semites  in  general 
considered  a  tabu  to  lie  on  corpses,  childbirth,  menstruation, 
issues,  or  marriage,  we  can  now  proceed  to  the  discussion 

v 

of  tabu  as  indicated  in  the  Surpu- series  by  the  word 
mamit.  In  the  Assyrian  religion  the  importance  of  the 
mamit  (which  may  be  both  a  ban  and  an  oath)  is  one  of 
the  most  conspicuous  ideas  presented.  It  is  sung  of 
particularly  in  a  tablet  beginning  “  Ban !  Ban  !  Barrier 
that  none  can  pass,”  being  the  description  of  the  holy 
defence  which  the  gods  are  able  to  provide  for  the  faithful 
against  the  powers  of  darkness,  “  a  snare  without  escape 
set  for  evil.”  Water  and  flour  appear  to  be  used  in  the 
charm,1  and  the  connection  with  the  Holy  Wafer  or  Host, 
used  as  a  defence  against  vampires,  is  obvious. 

“  Ban  !  Ban  !  Barrier  that  none  can  pass, 

Barrier  of  the  gods,  that  none  may  break, 

Barrier  of  heaven  and  earth  that  none  can  change, 

Which  no  god  may  annul, 

Nor  god  nor  man  can  loose, 

A  snare  without  escape,  set  for  evil, 

A  net  whence  none  can  issue  forth,  spread  for  evil. 

Whether  it  be  evil  Spirit,  or  evil  Demon,  or  evil  Ghost, 

Or  Evil  Devil,  or  evil  God,  or  evil  Fiend, 

Or  Hag-demon,  or  Ghoul,  or  Robber-sprite, 

Or  Phantom,  or  Night-wraith,  or  Handmaid  of  the  Phantom, 
Or  evil  Plague,  or  Fever  sickness,  or  unclean  Disease, 

Which  hath  attacked  the  shining  waters  of  Ea, 

May  the  snare  of  Ea  catch  it  ; 

1  “  The  shining  waters  of  Ea  55  and  “  the  net  of  Nisaba,”  the  corn-god. 
It  seems  to  have  been  the  custom  to  fence  about  the  patient  (or  perhaps 
the  magician)  with  a  ring  of  flour  or  meal  as  a  magic  circle,  just  in  the 
same  way  that  the  mediaeval  sorcerers  stood  within  a  similar  charmed 
ring  when  invoking  spirits.  See  Introduction. 


124 


THE  MAMIT  OR  TABU. 


Or  which  hath  assailed  the  meal  of  Nisaba, 

May  the  net  of  Nisaba  entrap  it ; 

Or  which  hath  broken  the  barrier, 

Let  not  the  barrier  of  the  gods, 

The  barrier  of  heaven  and  earth,  let  it  go  free  ; 

Or  which  reverencetli  not  the  great  gods, 

May  the  great  gods  entrap  it, 

May  the  great  gods  curse  it  ; 

Or  which  attacketh  the  house, 

Into  a  closed  dwelling  may  they  cause  it  to  enter  ; 

Or  which  circle th  round  about, 

Into  a  place  without  escape  may  they  bring  it  ; 

Or  which  is  shut  in  by  the  house  door, 

Into  a  house  without  exit  may  they  cause  it  to  enter  ; 

Or  that  which  passeth  the  door  and  bolt, 

With  door  and  bolt,  a  bar  immovable,  may  they  withhold  it ; 
Or  which  bloweth  in  at  the  threshold  and  hinge, 

Or  which  forceth  a  way  through  bar  and  latch, 

Like  water  may  they  pour  it  out, 

Like  a  goblet  may  they  dash  it  in  pieces, 

Like  a  tile  may  they  break  it  ; 

Or  which  passeth  over  the  wall, 

Its  wing  may  they  cut  off ; 

Or  which  [lieth]  in  a  chamber, 

Its  throat  may  they  cut ; 

Or  which  looketh  in  at  a  side  chamber, 

Its  face  may  they  smite  ; 

Or  which  muttereth  in  a  .  .  .  chamber, 

Its  mouth  may  they  shut ; 

Or  which  roameth  loose  in  an  upper  chamber, 

With  a  bason  without  opening  may  they  cover  it  ; 

Or  which  at  dawn  is  darkened, 

At  dawn  to  a  place  of  sunrise  may  they  take  it  ”  1 


Again,  this  word  mamit  occurs  constantly  in  the  Surpu- 
series,  which  is  largely  devoted  to  spells  for  its  removal 
from  the  sick  man  who  has  appealed  for  release.  The 


1  Devils,  ii,  119. 


THE  MAMIT  OR  TABIJ. 


125 


value  of  these  Surpu  tablets  in  this  matter  cannot  be 
overestimated,  for  we  find  in  one  tablet  a  list  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty-three  transgressions  of  every  possible 
kind  of  mamit ,  which  the  man  may  have  incurred,1  and 
Marduk  can  remove.  This  is  the  beginning  of  the  third 
tablet : — 

“  The  mamit  of  all  kinds  which  hath  seized  on  the  man, 
Marduk,  the  priest  of  the  gods,  looseth.”  2 

If  these  mamit  be  considered  in  detail  it  will  at  once 
be  recognized  that  the  Polynesian  tabu  is  a  near  equivalent 
of  the  Assvrian  word.  To  this  end  let  us  examine  this 
and  the  other  tablets  of  the  same  series  which  deal  with 
the  mamit.  Some  are  obviously  much  older  than  others, 
at  any  rate  in  their  present  guise.  Adultery,  murder, 
and  theft  are  all  considered  tabu,  yet  in  the  form  in  which 
they  are  exorcised  they  are  not,  according  to  modern 
convention,  of  the  same  class  of  ideas  as  those  tabus  against 
contact  with  unclean  vessels.  We  may  therefore  begin 
with  the  latter,  simpler  ideas  of  uncleanness,  which  pre¬ 
sumably’  are  in  their  earliest  dress  and  are  briefly  and 
simply  set  forth. 

Of  the  simple,  ‘  unclean  ’  tabus,  then,  we  find  the 
following  : — 

iii,  21.  Mamit  via  kasi  (?)  la  sariptum 3  me  satil. 

il  Tabu  of  drinking  water  from  an  uncleaned  cup.” 

1  Compare  Plutarch  ( Be  Superst.,  vii),  “  describing  the  hapless  plight 
of  the  man  who  thinks  that  affliction  comes  to  him  as  a  punishment 
for  sin.  1  It  is  useless  to  speak  to  him,  to  try  and  Help  him.  He 
sits  girt  about  with  foul  rags,  and  many  a  time  he  strips  himself  and 
rolls  about  naked  in  the  mud  ;  he  accuses  himself  of  sins  of  omission 
and  commission,  he  has  eaten  something  or  drunk  something,  or 
walked  in  some  road  the  divinity  forbade  him  ’  ”  (J.  E.  Harrison, 
Prolegomena ,  517). 

2  Zimmern,  Ritualt.,  12.  3  Sariptu  is  literally  4  unrefined.’ 


126 


THE  MAMIT  OR  TABU. 


22.  Mcimit  rilieti  nadanu  u  sa’alu. 

w 

“  Tabu  of  giving  or  asking  the  lees.”  1 2 

114.  Mamit  ina  usurti  mahar  ilu  Samas  aradu. 

“  Tabu  of  going  before  the  sun  when  “Tixy.”3 

r 

115.  Mamit  tam'd  amelu  lapatu. 

“  Tabu  of  touching  a  man,  when  one  is  ‘  banned.’  ”  3 

116.  Mamit  tam'd  katsu  ana  Hi  u  ilu  Istar  tarasu. 

“  Tabu  of  making  prayer  to  god  or  goddess,  when  one  is 
‘  banned.’  ” 

117.  Mamit  itti  tami  dababu. 

“  Tabu  of  holding  converse  with  one  under  a  ban.” 

118.  Mamit  akale  tami  akalu. 

“  Tabu  of  eating  the  bread  of  one  under  a  ban.” 

119.  Mamit  me  tami  said. 

“  Tabu  of  drinking  the  water  of  one  under  a  ban.” 

120.  Mamit  rihiti  tami  sat'd. 

“  Tabu  of  drinking  what  one  under  a  ban  hath  left.” 

121.  Mamit  itti  bel  ami  dababu. 

“  Tabu  of  holding  converse  with  one  who  lieth  under  a  sin.” 

122.  Mamit  akali  bel  ami  akalu. 

“  Tabu  of  eating  the  bread  of  one  who  lieth  under  a  sin.” 


1  Cf.  Hughes,  Diet,  of  Islam,  103  :  “  When  anyone  eats  he  must  not 
wash  his  fingers  until  he  has  first  licked  them  ;  whoever  eats  a  dish 
and  licks  it  afterwards,  the  dish  intercedes  with  God  for  him  ;  whoever 
eats  from  a  plate  and  licks  it  afterwards,  the  dish  says  to  him  :  ‘  May 
God  free  you  from  hell  as  you  have  freed  me  from  the  devils  licking  me.’  ” 

2  The  translation  of  usurtu  here,  on  which  the  sense  of  the  line 
depends,  is  uncertain.  It  is  not  certain  whether  this  is  to  be  referred 
to  the  savage  custom  of  preventing  women  in  their  courses  and  sick 
men  from  seeing  the  sun,  or  whether  it  is  a  prohibition  against  appearing 
in  the  Sun-temple  when  unclean.  Samas  is  used  in  this  tablet  as  we 
should  use  the  word  ‘sun’  (cf.  1.  23).  Usurtu  is  the  word  translated 
‘  barrier  ’  in  the  second  line  of  the  Tablet  of  the  Ban  quoted  above. 
Zimmern,  in  the  Surpu ,  translates  it  Zauberkreis.  I  think,  however, 
that  it  is  quite  possible  to  hold  this  other  view. 

3  i.e.  ‘  unclean.’ 


THE  HAMIT  OR  TABU. 


127 


123.  Mamit  me  bel  ami  satd. 

“  Tabu  of  drinking  the  water  of  one  who  lieth  under  a  sin.” 

124.  Mamit  rihit  bel  ami  satd. 

“  Tabu  of  drinking  what  one  that  lieth  under  a  sin  hath  left.” 

125.  Mamit  abut  bel  ar[ni  sabat]u. 

“  Tabu  of  making  intercession  for  one  that  lieth  under  a  sin.” 

Or  the  sick  man  may  be  tabu  from  the  following  causes: _ 

ii,  99.  Ana  pan  tami  itesir. 

“  He  hath  gone  before  one  under  a  ban.” 

100.  Tamil  ana  panisu  itesir. 

“  One  under  a  ban  hath  come  before  him.” 

101.  Ina  ersi  tami  ittatil. 

“  He  hath  slept  on  the  bed  of  one  under  a  ban.” 

102.  Ina  kussi  tami  ittasab. 

“  He  hath  sat  on  the  chair  of  one  under  a  ban.” 

103.  Ina  passuri  tami  itakal. 

“  He  hath  eaten  out  of  the  dish  of  one  under  a  ban.” 

104.  Ina  kdsi  tami  iltati. 

“  He  hath  drunk  out  of  the  cup  of  one  under  a  ban.”  1 

From  these  primitive  conceptions  of  tabu  we  can  readily 
understand  how  the  ordinary  moral  code  of  life  arose. 
“  Breaches  of  social  order  are  recognized  as  offences 


1  See  also  Tablet  VIII,  1.  44,  Itti  mamit  kussi  subti  erE  maiali  u-tamd, 
From  the  tabu  of  chair,  stool,  bed,  couch,  and  one  under  a  ban  (may 
they  free  him).”  This  tablet  of  the  Surpu- series  is  paralleled  by  the 
description  of  a  sorcerer  of  the  Abipones  (Jevons,  Introd.  to  Hist,  of 
Religion ,  2nd  ed.,  Ill,  quoting  Dobrizhoffer).  In  the  case  of  private 
calamity,  “  at  his  first  coming  the  physician  overwhelms  the  sick  man 
with  an  hundred  questions  :  ‘  Where  were  you  yesterday  ? ’  says  he, 
‘what  roads  did  you  tread?  Did  you  overturn  the  jug  and  spill  the 
drink  prepared  from  the  maize  ?  What  ?  have  you  imprudently  given 
the  flesh  of  a  tortoise,  stag,  or  boar  [totem  gods]  to  be  devoured  by 
dogs  ?  ’  Should  the  sick  man  confess  to  having  done  any  of  these 
things,  ‘  It  is  well,’  replies  the  physician,  ‘  we  have  discovered  the  cau.sc 
of  your  disorder.’  ” 


128 


THE  MAMIT  OR  TABU. 


against  the  holiness  of  the  deity,  and  the  development  of 
law  and  morals  is  made  possible,  at  a  stage  when  human 
sanctions  are  still  wanting,  or  too  imperfectly  administered 
to  have  much  power,  by  the  belief  that  the  restrictions 
on  human  licence,  which  are  necessary  to  social  well¬ 
being,  are  conditions  imposed  by  the  god  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  good  understanding  between  himself  and 
his  worshippers.”  1  It  is  to  this,  therefore,  that  we  must 
refer  the  reason  for  the  heterogeneous  tabus  in  the 
Surpu  tablets,  when  we  find  side  by  side  with  contagious 
tabus  of  uncleanness  what  is  to  us  the  more  moral 
side  of  holy  tabus — adultery,  murder,  theft,  and  even  the 
stirring  up  of  strife.  The  very  commingling  of  such 
tabus,  which  were  all  believed  to  be,  in  their  breach,  the 
reason  for  disease  (else  the  Surpu  would  never  have  been 
written),  throws  much  light  first  on  the  relatively  high 
danger  from  unclean  contagion,  as  from  the  ‘deadly’ 
sins,  and  secondly  the  conception  of  sin  as  it  originated 
in  the  Semitic  mind.2 

I  have  gone  thus  fully  into  this  meaning  of  mamit  that 
there  may  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  actual  sense  of  the  word ; 
it  is  the  savage  tabu  in  all  its  power.  In  another  tablet, 
although  no  mention  is  made  of  the  mamit ,  the  man  (or 
more  probably  the  priest,  from  1.  10)  has  come  under 
a  tabu  of  uncleanliness — 3 

1  Robertson  Smith,  Rel.  Sem 154. 

2  And  incidentally  the  probability  of  the  composite  character  of  this 

list  of  tabus  and  the  whole  of  the  Surpu. 

3  Devils ,  ii,  Tablet  ‘  AA.’  Line  10  rims  :  “  Father,  his  magician  hath 
trodden  in  something  poured  out,”  etc.  Are  we  to  consider  any  of  this 
uncleanness  due  to  ulterior  causes,  for  which  the  scribes  have  employed 
euphemisms  ?  When  the  euphemistic  synonyms  frequent  among  other 

Semites  are  remembered  (such  as  Isa.  lvii,  8  (?),  and  n'bn 


THE  MAMIT  OR  TABU. 


129 


“While  he  walked  in  the  street, 

.  .  .  while  he  walked  in  the  street, 

While  he  made  his  way  through  the  broad  places, 

While  he  walked  along  the  streets  and  ways, 

He  trod  in  something  that  had  been  poured  forth,  or 
He  put  his  foot  in  some  unclean  water, 

Or  cast  his  eye  on  the  water  of  unwashen  hands,1 
Or  came  in  contact  with  a  woman  of  unclean  hands, 

Or  glanced  at  a  maid  with  unwashen  hands, 

Or  his  hand  touched  a  bewitched  woman, 

Or  he  came  in  contact  with  a  man  of  unclean  hands, 

Or  saw  one  with  unwashen  hands, 

Or  his  hand  touched  one  of  unclean  body.” 

frequently)  it  does  not  seem  impossible.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
closing  ceremony  of  the  Eighth  Tablet  of  the  Surpu  (1.  72),  for  the  man 
under  the  tabu,  says  :  “  May  (the  tabu)  be  poured  like  the  water  of  thy 
body  and  the  washings  of  the  hands.”  The  ka-luh-u-  [da],  a  purification 
ceremony,  probably  the  same  as  the  tablet  quoted  above,  which  is  the 
eighth  tablet  of  the  series  luh-ka,  is  prescribed  in  K.  2519  (Martin, 
Textes  Religieux,  1903,  220,  1.  9)  as  advisable  if  the  god  vouchsafes  no 
answer  in  the  omens  which  the  seer  is  observing. 

1  Evil  could  always  be  washed  from  the  hands  with  water.  According 
to  Shabbath,  109a  (Hershon,  43)  “  it  were  better  to  cut  the  hands  off 
than  to  touch  the  eye,  or  the  nose,  or  the  mouth,  or  the  ear,  etc.  (i.e.  the 
orifices  by  which  a  demon  may  enter,  as  is  clear  from  p.  115),  with  them, 
without  having  first  washed  them.  Unwashed  hands  may  cause  blind¬ 
ness,  deafness,  foulness  of  breath,  or  a  polypus.  It  is  taught  that 
Rabbi  Hathan  had  said,  ‘  The  evil  spirit  Bath  Chorin,  which  rests  upon 
the  hands  at  night,  is  very  strict ;  he  will  not  depart  until  water  is 
poured  upon  the  hands  three  times  over.’  ”  When  the  fingers  are  washed 
in  the  morning  they  should  be  held  downwards  and  extended,  that  the 
evil  spirits  which  hover  about  man  in  the  night-time  may  be  washed 
off  ( Jewish  Encycl .,  xi,  600).  Shibbeta  is  a  female  demon,  bringing 
croup  to  persons,  especially  children,  who  leave  their  hands  unwashed 
in  the  morning  ( Hul .,  107&,  Totan .,  20 b,  Yoma ,  77 b,  quoted  Jewish 
Encycl .,  iv,  517).  It  is  dangerous  even  to  borrow  a  drink  of  water,  or 
step  over  water  poured  out  ( Pes .  111a),  and  in  Galicia  it  is  recom¬ 
mended  not  to  leave  a  tank  of  water  uncovered  during  the  Passover, 
even  while  pouring  water  therein  (which  should  be  done  through 
a  cloth)  (Jewish  Encycl .,  article  Superstitions).  Pilate  washes  his 
hands  before  the  multitude,  saying,  “  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  this 


K 


130 


UNCLEAN  TABUS. 


The  evidence  before  us,  then,  shows  that  the  primitive 
tabu  on  uncleanness  existed  as  much  among  the  Assyrians 
as  among  the  Hebrews,  Arabs,  and  other  Semites.  It  is 

v 

quite  clear  that  these  mamit  in  the  Surpu  -  series  were 
written  for  people  who  had  incurred  a  tabu,  not  merely 
directly,  but  by  coming  in  contact  with  another  person 
‘charged’  with  the  contagion.  Indeed,  when  this  highly 
developed  Assyrian  system  of  contagion  from  tabu  is 
taken  into  account  with  the  universal  similarity  of  such 
tabus  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  it  would  be  no  great 
deduction  to  assume  that  primitive  tabus  were  no  more 
absent  from  Assyrian  theology  than  they  were  from 
Hebrew,  Arab,  or  other  Semitic  beliefs.  But  the  basic 

righteous  man  ”  (Matt,  xxvii,  24)  ;  and  in  the  J/aHw -series  (Tablet  vii, 
col.  iii,  1.  143)  the  man  under  the  ban  says  itturci  Urn  amsi  kataia , 
<c  The  morning  hath  risen,  I  have  washed  my  hands.”  That  unwashen 
hands  were  tabu  in  classical  worship  is  clear  from  Porphyry,  who  says 
that  there  was  a  programma  fixed  up  that  no  man  should  go  beyond 
the  Trepi pp avrgptov  till  he  had  washed  his  hands  ;  and  so  great  a  crime 
was  it  accounted  to  omit  this  ceremony  that  Timarchides  relates 
a  story  of  one  Asterius  who  was  struck  dead  with  thunder  because  he 
had  approached  the  altar  of  Jupiter  with  unwashed  hands  (Potter, 
Archceologia  Grceca ,  1832,  i,  262).  Among  the  Hebrews  this  is  paralleled 
by  the  law  of  Num.  i,  51,  that  it  is  death  for  any  but  a  priest  to  approach 
the  tabernacle  (see  Robertson  Smith,  O.T.  in  Jewish  Church ,  229). 
Among  the  Moslems  there  are  various  opinions  which  conflict  with  one 
another  on  the  subject  of  the  cleanness  or  uncleanness  of  water.  On 
the  whole,  however,  the  side  generally  accepted  is  that  water,  the  taste, 
colour,  or  smell  of  which  has  not  been  changed  is  to  be  considered  as 
clean  (Klein,  Religion  of  Islam ,  122).  In  the  Levitical  law  the  tabu  of 
eating  that  which  dies  by  itself  can  be  removed  by  washing  (Lev.  xvii, 
15).  The  following  Assyrian  text  throws  further  light  on  this  belief 
( W.A.I.,  ii,  515,  5) 

“  All  evil,  .  .  .  which  exists  in  the  body  of  N., 

May  it  be  carried  off  with  the  water  of  his  body,  the  washings  from 
his  hands,  .  .  . 

And  may  the  river  carry  it  away  down-stream. 

Ban  !  By  heaven  be  thou  exorcised,  by  earth  be  thou  exorcised  !  ,J 


UNCLEAN  TABUS. 


131 


facts  of  such  customs  are  apparent  from  several  tablets, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  without  our  being  compelled 
to  deduce  them.  We  know  that  the  corpse  is  tabu,  for 
a  purificatory  ritual  was  incumbent  on  any  Assyrian  who 
touched  or  even  looked  upon  a  dead  man.1  Secondly,  we 
know  that  there  were  rites  to  be  performed  for  women 
in  childbirth,2  and  that  the  woman  who  died  in  giving 
birth  to  her  babe  became  a  ghost.3  Thirdly,  the  girl  who 
cannot  menstruate  in  a  regular  way  is  mentioned  with 
supernatural  beings,4  and  “  the  woman  with  unwashen 
hands  ”  can  render  a  priest  unclean.5  Lastly,  marriage 
and  the  k’ri  demand  that  the  Assyrian,  as  much  as  the 
other  Semites,  should  purify  himself.6  These  facts  prove 
convincingly  that  dead  bodies,  menstruation,  childbirth, 
sexual  intercourse,  and  accidental  emissions  were  all  tabu 
in  Babylonia  as  in  other  parts  of  the  Semitic  East.  The 
next  point  which  demands  consideration  is  why  these 
tabus  existed  at  all,  or  why  man  should  have  established 
a  series  of  laws  which  are  for  the  most  part  apparently 
unreasonable.  It  is  consequently  this  problem  of  apparent 
unreasonableness  that  remains  to  be  solved,  that  we  may 
discover  by  what  process  of  reasoning  primitive  man 
evolved  a  system  of  tabus  which  are  practically  the  same 
all  the  world  over. 

It  is  a  recognized  fact,  as  has  been  mentioned  before, 
that  at  the  back  of  the  savage  brain  is  the  ever-present 
idea  in  these  tabus  of  some  formidable  spirits  ready  to 
attack  any  man  who  should  transgress  the  limits  of  what 
is  admitted  as  the  peculiar  demoniac  right.  It  remains  to 


1  See  p.  26. 

4  See  p.  120. 


2  See  p.  122. 
5  See  p.  128. 


3  See  p.  19 
6  See  p.  121. 


132 


TABU  ON  THE  K’ Hi¬ 


ke  seen  how  far  we  can  trace  in  the  tabus  on  the  afore¬ 
mentioned  functions  the  connection  of  evil  spirits  and  the 
savage  logic  which  has  deduced  such  a  theory.1  Hitherto 
we  have  seen  that  the  tabu  on  a  dead  body  is  due  to  the 
dread  of  attracting  the  departed  soul,  which  can  return 
to  afflict  all  that  meddle  with  the  corpse.  In  other  words, 
it  is  an  *  unclean  ’  tabu  arising  from  fear  of  evil  spirits. 
The  proof  of  the  existence  of  such  an  one  is  ample 
encouragement  to  proceed  on  the  same  line  of  investigation 
in  other  unexplained  tabus. 

From  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  seen  that  it  is 
a  widespread  belief  among  the  Semites  that  female  spirits 
can  visit  men  and  marry  them  ;  indeed,  that  they  can 
bear  ghostly  children  to  them,  who  will  await  them  in  the 
next  world.  This  is  the  explanation  given  as  the  reason 
for  k'ri,  by  the  Rabbis,  the  Assyrians,  and  the  Arabs,  and 
presumably  we  shall  not  be  far  wrong  in  thinking  this 
explanation  to  have  been  widespread.  The  Semites  are 
not  the  only  peoples  who  admit  intermarriage  between 
deities  and  mortals,  of  gods  with  women  and  goddesses 
with  heroes.  Similarly,  as  with  men,  women  also  are 
believed  to  be  loved  by  male  demons,  qfarit,  and  even 
divine  beings,  who  have  license  and  power  to  approach 
them.2  Now  since  the  k'ri  is  explained  as  evidence  of 

1  “  Possibly  we  should  regard  as  an  extension  of  the  law  of  issues  the 
uncleanness  of  the  human  excreta  ”  (Peake,  Hastings'  Diet,  of  the  Bible , 
iv,  829).  In  this  case  the  tabu  may  possibly  be  connected  with  the  idea 
of  demons  entering  the  body  through  one  of  its  orifices. 

2  Naturally  the  family  descent  is  preferably  traced  rather  to  a  god 
than  to  a  demoniac  mesalliance.  The  god’s  son  by  a  woman  is  a  hero 
or  demigod ;  the  semi-human  offspring  of  a  devil  is  probably  an 
abortion,  cripple,  or  malformed  babe,  such  as  were  restricted  from  the 
temple  ministration. 


TABU  ON  THE  NIDDAH. 


133 


the  visit  of  a  lilith,  with  a  concomitant  tabu  on  the  man, 
we  may  surely  see  a  corresponding  superstition  about  the 
woman  in  her  courses.  From  the  first  time  when  this 
occurs  the  woman  is  carefully  segregated  from  the  rest 
of  the  tribe,  often  for  a  long  time,1  and  she  becomes  tabu 
again  on  each  successive  occasion.  These  tabus  at  once 
show  how  fearful  men  were  of  interfering  with  the  harim - 
rights  of  either  male  or  female  spirits,  gods  or  goddesses. 
It  becomes  increasingly  clear  that  the  divine  or  demoniac 
appetites  are  not  satiated  merely  by  food  or  libation,  by 
incense  or  unguents.  As  is  seen  from  the  frequence  with 
which  women  are  vowed  to  gods,2  the  divine  beings  were 
accredited  with  other  passions  which  their  worshippers 
satisfy.  Just  as  the  faithful  share  the  sacrificial  meal  of 
slaughtered  fatlings,  burn  incense  for  a  sweet  savour,3  or 
anoint  the  stone  which  represents  the  deity,  so  do  they 
recognize  the  supernatural  dues  in  marriage  and  acquiesce 
in  the  right  to  a  share  in  the  women  of  the  tribe.  The 
condition  of  a  woman  niddah  demanded  an  explanation,  and 
what  more  natural  one  than  that  she  was  thus  obviously 
admitted  into  the  ghostly  harim  ?  When  a  man  became  tabu 
through  k'ri,  it  was  because  of  his  spirit- wife  or  lilith, 
whose  presence,  hostile  to  others,  made  him  dangerous. 
Similarly,  a  woman  became  tabu  from  fear  of  a  jealous 
god  or  demon.  Hence  arose  the  idea  of  separating  such 

1  They  were  frequently  precluded  from  seeing  the  sun.  Is  this  to  be 

explained  through  the  idea  that  the  sun  is  susceptible  of  attack  from 
roving  demons  ? 

3  The  Arabs  of  the  Ignorance  used  to  bury  their  daughters  alive 
(Sale,  Koran ,  Prelim.  Discourse ,  sect,  v),  presumably  thus  offering  them 
to  the  harim  of  their  god,  instead  of  sacrificing  them. 

3  This  desire  for  sweet  scents  is  a  peculiarity  of  Orientals,  far  more 
than  among  Westerns.  Cf.  Prov.  xxvii,  9. 


134 


TABU  ON  MARRIAGE  AND  CHILDBIRTH. 


folk  from  the  remainder  of  the  tribe,  lest  their  presence 
should  provoke  an  attack  from  the  spirit  in  its  nocturnal 
wanderings. 

If  there  be  any  truth  in  this  explanation  there  should 
be  some  similarity  in  the  tabu  on  marriage  and  childbirth. 
This,  too,  seems  very  probable.  In  the  case  of  marriage 
the  story  of  Tobit  offers  the  best  possible  example.1  Tobias, 
before  his  marriage  with  Sarah,  goes  in  terror  of  the 
devil  which  also  loves  her,  “  which  hurteth  no  man  but 
those  which  come  unto  her.”  But  after  the  wedding  he 
is  able  to  drive  away  the  demon  with  various  evil  smells.2 
The  previous  husbands  have  been  slain  by  the  demon, 
who  regards  himself  as  a  constant  lover  in  this  case, 
brooking  no  attempt  to  share  his  hartm.  The  case  is 
the  same  in  the  story  of  Nur-ed-Din  and  his  Son  in  the 
Arabian  Nights  :  “  Thy  father  thou  knowest  not,  nor  do 
we  know  him  ;  for  the  Sultan  married  her  to  the  hump¬ 
backed  groom,  and  the  Jinn  came  and  prevented  him.” 
Among  the  Arabs  it  was  held  especially  necessary  to 
take  precautions  against  demons  on  the  consummation  of 
marriage.3 

1  Tobit  vi,  14. 

2  Ibid.,  viii,  2.  In  another  version  “  Tobiyah  remembered  the  words 
of  Raphael,  and  he  took  the  heart  of  the  fish  and  put  it  on  a  censer, 
and  burnt  it  under  the  clothes  of  Sarah.  And  Ashmedai  received  the 
smell,  and  he  fled  instantly”  (Gaster,  Two  Unknown  Hebrew  Versions 
of  the  Tobit  Legend ,  P.S.B.A. ,  xix,  37).  It  is  the  business  of  Ashmedai 
to  plot  against  the  newly  wedded  {Test,  of  Solomon,  J.Q. ,  xi,  20). 

3  Wellhausen,  lleste  (2),  155.  Among  modern  Arabs  a  wedding  must 
not  take  place  when  the  moon  is  under  an  eclipse  or  in  the  sign  of 
Scorpio,  the  best  time  being  between  the  26th  and  the  end  of  the  lunar 
month  (Hadji  Khan,  With  the  Pilgrims  to  Mecca ,  46).  Among  the 
Yezidis  cohabitation  is  forbidden  on  the  night  of  Wednesday  and  Friday 
(Ohabot,  Journal  Asiatique,  vii,  1896,  127).  Noteworthy,  too,  is  the 
custom  among  the  later  Hebrews.  “  A  canopy  may  be  made  for  dead 


REASON  FOR  UNCLEAN  TABU. 


135 


What  other  reason  can  there  be  for  all  this  ceremonial 
uncleanness  of  marriage  except  that  men  feared  to  meddle 
with  the  rights  of  spirits  who  had  a  prior  right  to  any 
or  all  of  the  women  of  the  tribe  P  Why,  for  instance, 
should  the  later  Hebrews  have  laid  an  embargo  on  two 
sisters  marrying  on  the  same  day,  lest  the  evil  eye  fall 
on  the  parents,1  or  on  intercourse  with  a  woman  in  a  bed 
where  a  child  sleeps,  lest  the  child  become  epileptic  ? 2 

bridegrooms  and  brides,  and  either  eatable  or  uneatable  things  may  be 
hung  on  it.  So  is  the  decree  of  R.  Meir.  R.  Jehudah,  however,  said  : 
Only  unripe  things — viz.,  unripe  nuts,  unripe  ^aWo^,  tongus  [sfc]  of 
purple,  and  flasks  of  Arabian  oil,  but  not  when  they  are  ripe,  nor  ripe 
pomegranates,  nor  flasks  of  sweet  oil,  as  whatever  hangs  on  the  canopy, 
no  benefit  may  be  derived  from  it.  Strings  of  fish,  pieces  of  meat,  may 
be  thrown  before  the  dead  bridegroom  or  bride  in  the  summer,  but  not 
in  rain-time  ;  and  even  during  the  summer  they  must  not  do  so  with 
cooked  fish  or  other  eatables,  which  will  be  spoiled  after  they  are  thrown 
on  the  ground5’  ( Ebel  Rabbathi ,  ed.  Rodk. ,  30).  Note  also  the  custom 
in  Arabia  of  making  a  bird  fly  away  with  the  uncleanness  of  widowhood 
of  a  widow  before  remarriage  (Robertson  Smith,  Rel.  Sem. ,  422,  with 
Assyrian  parallel  in  the  Records  of  the  Past ,  ix,  151).  There  is  a  curious 
story  told  by  Masterman  ( Bibl .  World,  xxii,  254)  of  a  Palestinian  Jew, 
who  married  several  women,  all  of  whom  died  in  childbirth.  Thinking 
that  he  was  under  some  magical  spell,  he  went  through  the  form  of 
marriage  with  a  cow,  the  wedding-ring  being  actually  placed  on  the 
cow’s  horn.  The  cow  was  then  killed,  and  the  man  immediately  married 
again,  the  curse  having  been,  as  he  thought,  removed. 

1  Sefer  Hastdtm ,  quoted  Jewish  Encycl. ,  xi,  601. 

2  Pesacliim ,  ed.  Rodkinson,  v,  232.  The  danger  which  the  newly 
married  bride  incurs  from  demons  in  passing  the  threshold  of  the 
new  house  has  been  already  discussed  (p.  30)  ;  we  may  also  add 
here  a  quotation  from  Pesacliim  (ibid.,  170),  that  it  was  permitted  to 
a  bride  to  avert  her  face  from  the  company  while  eating  the  paschal 
sacrifice,  traditionally  explained  because  of  her  bashfulness,  but  quite 
as  probably  a  survival  of  the  fear  of  her  presence  attracting  malignant 
spirits.  It  is  a  Sunneh  ordinance  that  the  bride  wash  her  feet  in 
a  clean  vessel  and  sprinkle  the  water  in  the  corners  of  the  chamber, 
that  a  blessing  may  result  from  this  (Nuzhet  el-Mutaamil,  quoted 
Lane,  Arabian  Nights ,  iv,  note  30). 


136 


TABU  ON  CHILDBIRTH. 


The  former  becomes  intelligible  if  we  recognize  the  power 
of  disappointed  demons  to  visit  their  revenge  on  the 
parents  for  a  too  great  loss  in  one  day,  and  the  meaning 
of  the  latter  is  equally  clear  when  the  demoniac  origin  of 
epilepsy  is  remembered. 

Again,  in  the  case  of  childbirth  1  the  same  ‘  uncleanness  ’ 
of  tabu  attaches  to  the  woman,  and  if  she  dies  in  giving 
birth  to  her  child  she  becomes  a  ghost  which  will  return 
for  its  babe.  The  infant,  too,  incurs  the  risk  of  attack 
from  female  spirits  such  as  the  lilith,  the  lamia,  or  the 
labartu.  According  to  Indian  folklore  the  woman  in  this 
condition  is  exposed  to  exceptional  perils,  a  thousand 
demons,  lascivious  incubi ,  gathering  round  her.2  Hence 
we  may  infer  that  the  danger  from  spirits  which  renders 
the  woman  unclean  may  be  either  due  to  the  jealousy  of 
such  female  demons  as  may  be  supposed  to  have  had  con¬ 
nection  with  the  father  and  resent  her  bearing  a  child  to 
him ;  or  it  may  be  from  the  incubi ,  who  account  themselves 
the  lovers  of  the  woman,  and  are  hovering  near  on  such 
an  occasion  as  the  birth  of  a  child.  They  may  either  be 
hostile  because  the  babe  is  not  theirs,  or  be  anxious  for 
the  advent  of  their  demon-child  in  an  untimely  birth. 
Among  the  Orang  Laut  a  great  clamour  is  made  as  soon 
as  a  child  is  born  to  them.  All  present  unite  in  shouting 
and  in  beating  anything  which  will  make  a  noise,  and  the 
greater  the  din  the  better.  The  hubbub  lasts  for  anything 
from  ten  minutes  to  half  an  hour,  being  especially  intended 


1  Wellhausen,  however,  considers  that  Lev.  xii,  2,  implies  xv,  19  : 
the  law  of  iincleanness  of  childbearing  might  be  an  extension  by 
analogy  of  the  older  law  of  the  uncleanness  of  menstruation  ( C.H. ,  148). 

2  Victor  Henry,  La  Magie  dans  V hide  Antique ,  1904,  140. 


TABU  ON  CHILDBIRTH. 


137 


to  drive  away  any  evil  spirits  which  might  otherwise  attack 
either  mother  or  child.1 

To  quote  a  story  of  somewhat  earlier  date,  Psellus  tells 
of  a  woman  who  in  her  confinement  was  very  ill  and  raved 
extravagantly,  muttering  in  a  barbarous  tongue.  So  they 
brought  “  a  very  old  bald-headed  man  .  .  .  who,  standing 
with  his  sword  drawn  beside  the  bed,  affected  to  be  angry 
with  the  invalid,  and  upbraided  her  much  in  his  own 
tongue  ”  (Armenian),  and  the  woman  answered  him.  On 
his  growing  more  vituperative,  she  was  overcome  and  fell 
asleep.  The  bystanders  thought  she  spoke  in  Armenian 
also,  and  when  she  recovered  she  declared  that  “  a  sort  of 
darksome  spectre,  resembling  a  woman,  with  the  hair 
dishevelled,”  sprang  upon  her.2 

Whether  the  demons  are  incubi  or  jealous  spirit- wives, 
they  are  dangerous  to  the  people  who  approach  the  woman, 
and,  such  being  the  case,  she  is  tabu.  Many  modern 
superstitions  throw  light  on  this.  The  tribes  of  the  Malay 
Peninsula  light  fires  near  a  mother  at  childbirth  to  scare 
away  evil  spirits.3  In  the  Tyrol  it  is  said  that  a  woman 
in  childbed  should  never  take  off  her  wedding  ring,  or 
spirits  and  witches  will  have  power  over  her.4  According 
to  the  modern  Jews  of  Minsk,  if  you  go  alone  to  call 
a  midwife  your  course  will  be  lengthened  or  troubled  by 
devils.5  In  Syria  the  woman  in  such  a  condition  must 
get  up  and  go  out  of  the  house  when  a  corpse  is  carried 

1  Skeat  and  Blagden,  Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula ,  ii,  26. 

2  Psellus  (eleventh  cent.),  Dialogue  on  the  Operation  of  Daemons , 
ed.  Collisson,  39. 

3  Tylor,  Prim.  Cult .,  4th  ed.,  ii,  195,  quoting  Journ.  Ind.  Archip. 

4  Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  i,  402. 

5  Jewish  Encycl xi,  600. 


138 


ROYAL  TABU. 


past,  or  death  may  ensue  to  both  mother  and  child.1  The 
evidence,  therefore,  that  we  have  before  us,  seems  to  prove 
that  this  is  the  solution  of  the  problem.  Spirits  both 
male  and  female  could  manifestly  intermarry  in  the  tribe, 
and  such  persons  as  gave  evidence  of  demoniac  or  divine 
selection  were  carefully  tabooed,  lest  communion  with  them 
should  bring  down  the  jealous  spirit  wrath. 

We  may  leave  these  tabus  to  pass  on  to  the  instances 
of  the  Royal  Tabu,  or  special  tabu  on  kings,  among  the 
Semites.  It  is  a  well-recognized  custom  among  savage 
races  that  their  chief  shall  be  subject  to  special  tabus 
which  are  not  binding  upon  the  common  people,  for  in 
primitive  times  the  more  prominent  the  chief  is  the  more 
does  he  become  the  representative  figure-head  of  the 
tribe.  There  is  no  need  to  give  the  details  of  savage 
customs,  which  are  well  known,  and  require  no  further 
elucidation.2  Among  the  Assyrians  traces  of  this  Royal 
Tabu  occur  in  the  ‘  hemerology  ’  texts.  There  are  certain 
acts  from  which  the  king  must  abstain  on  the  seventh, 
fourteenth,  nineteenth,  twenty-first,  and  twenty-eighth  day 
of  the  month  ;  that  is  to  say,  every  seventh  day  with 
the  forty-ninth  (seven  x  seven)  day  from  the  first  of 
the  preceding  month.  For  instance,  “The  seventh  day 
(of  the  second  Elul)  is  the  festival  of  Marduk  and 
Sarpanitum.  A  lucky  day.  An  evil  day.  The  shepherd 

1  Baldensperger,  P.E.F.,  1894,  143.  It  is  an  old  custom  among  the 
Sephardim,  if  labour  is  protracted,  to  set  a  chair  in  the  middle  of  the 
room  for  Sitt  Miriam  (the  Lady  Mary),  who  is  invited  to  come  in  and 
assist,  hut  as  soon  as  the  child  arrives  is  as  hurriedly  invited  to  retire 
(Masterman,  Jewish  Customs ,  Bibl.  World ,  xxii,  248). 

2  The  whole  matter  of  savage  tabus  on  royalty  is  set  forth  in  Frazers 
Golden  Bough. 


ROYAL  TABU. 


139 


of  the  widespreading  peoples  must  not  eat  flesh  that  has 
been  cooked  over  coals  nor  bread  cooked  in  ashes.1  He 
must  not  change  the  raiment  of  his  body,  nor  put  on  clean 
{or  white)  clothes.  He  must  not  offer  a  libation.  The 
king  must  not  ride  forth  in  his  chariot,  and  must  not 
speak  loudly.2  The  priest  must  not  make  enquiry  in 
a  secret  place.  The  physician  must  not  lay  his  hand 
on  the  sick.  It  is  unfitted  for  making  a  curse.3  In  the 
evening  the  king  should  make  offerings  and  offer  sacrifices 
to  Marduk  and  Ishtar ;  his  prayer  will  be  acceptable  to 
the  god.”  Two  important  points  to  notice  in  this 
hemerology,  before  going  further,  are  the  two  phrases 


1  Compare  the  tabu  in  Skabbath,  Talmud,  ed.  Schwab,  iv,  25,  that  no 

meat,  onion,  or  egg  should  be  put  to  roast  on  the  eve  of  the  sabbath, 
unless  it  can  be  finished  cooking  that  day.  Bread  was  not  to  be  put  in 
the  oven  or  a  cake  on  the  ashes  unless  there  was  time  for  a  light  crust 
to  form  on  the  surface  before  the  beginning  of  the  Sabbath.  The 
Assyrian  word  for  £  bread  cooked  in  ashes  ’  is  akal  tumri  (Devils,  ii, 
18) ;  it  is  the  Hebrew  ,  the  panis  subcinericus  of  the 

Vulgate.  For  the  use  in  magic  compare  the  instances  given  in  Devils , 
loc.  cit.,  and  Chwolsohn,  Die  Ssabier ,  ii,  27  :  “  Den  27  (Tammuz)  feiern 
die  Manner  ein  Mysterion  des  Schemal,  zu  Ehren  der  Genien,  der 
Damonen  und  der  Gottheiten.  Sie  machen  viele  Aschenkuchen  aus 
Mehl,  Terebinthenbeeren,  getrockneten  Weinbeeren  (Rosinen,  Zibeben) 
und  geschalten  Xiissen,  wie  die  Hirten  zu  thun  pflegen.”  These 
prohibitions  on  cooking  probably  arise  from  some  tabu  against  fire  ; 
compare  Exod.  xxxv,  3,  “  Ye  shall  kindle  no  fire  throughout  your 
habitations  upon  the  Sabbath,”  and  Lev.  x,  1,  2,  where  the  offering  of 
strange  fire  meets  with  the  punishment  of  fire  which  comes  forth  from 
Yahweh.  Josephus  (Bell.  Jvd .,  ii,  8,  9)  says  that  the  Essenes  strictly 
observed  the  rules  to  cook  no  food  and  light  no  fire  on  the  Sabbath. 

2  To  raise  the  voice  is  tabu  to  a  murderer  among  the  Omahas 
(Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  i,  340,  quoting  Dorsey). 

3  Often  hemerology  texts  mark  this  in  different  form  :  “  On  the 
nineteenth  of  Iyyar  he  who  uttereth  a  ban — a  god  will  seize  upon  him  ” 
( W.A.I. ,  v,  pi.  48).  On  the  tabu  on  work  on  holy  days  see  Jevons, 
Introduction ,  2nd  ed.,  65  ff. 


140 


ROYAL  TABU. 


“  a  lucky  day  ”  and  “  an  evil  day,”  and  the  distinction 
between  the  king  and  some  person  who  is  called  “  the 
shepherd  of  the  widespreading  peoples.”  If  this  latter  is 
merely  an  equivalent  for  ‘  king,’  as  seems  quite  probable, 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  we  have  here  a  text  that  is  a 
recension  from  two  different  versions.  The  two  antithetic 
epithets  for  “  the  day  ”  are  quite  in  accord  with  this. 

K.  3597  is  another  tablet  prescribing  things  which  the 
king  must  not  do  on  a  certain  day — 

Ina  Hme-su  sarru  ana  tinuri  {])-Su  ul  ikarrab 


saltis  ul  itame 


asar  puzri  amatu  ul  isakan 

kit  ul  issattu 
kH  ul  iptaroHu. 


“  On  that  day  the  king  must  not  approach  his  fireplace  (?), 


He  must  not  speak  loudly, 


He  must  not  make  enquiry  in  a  secret  place, 


He  must  not  drink  vegetables  (?) 

He  must  not  cut  off  vegetables  (?).” 

The  Hebrews,  too,  had  their  Royal  Tabus:  “When 
a  ruler  sinneth,  and  doeth  unwittingly  any  one  of  all 
the  things  which  Yahweh  his  God  hath  commanded  not 
to  be  done,  and  is  guilty,”  1  he  shall  make  atonement. 
In  the  Talmud2  there  is  a  tradition  that  only  the  king 

1  Lev.  iv,  22. 


2  Foma,  viii,  i,  ed.  Schwab,  v,  247. 


OTHER  TABUS. 


141 


and  brides  are  allowed  to  wash  their  faces  on  the  Day 
of  Atonement. 

‘Holy’  tabus  do  not  come  within  the  scope  of  this 
book.  Under  this  heading  must  come  many  of  the  tabus 
mentioned  in  the  hemerologies.1  For  instance,  among  the 
Assyrians,  to  eat  fish  on  the  ninth  of  Iyyar  rendered 
men  liable  to  sickness ;  in  Syria  the  eating  of  fish,  which 
were  sacred  to  Atargatis,  was  held  to  result  in  a  sickness 
of  ulcers,  swellings,  or  wasting  disease.2  Even  dates  at 
times  were  tabu  to  the  Assyrians,  and  if  they  were  eaten 
on  certain  forbidden  days  ophthalmia  was  supposed  to 
result.  To  cross  a  river  on  the  twentieth  of  Ab  would 
also  bring  sickness. 

But  these,  and  kindred  others,  belong  more  probably 
to  the  ‘  sacred  ’  tabus,  along  with  the  ‘  unclean  ’  totem- 
beasts,  and  have  no  place  here.  This  chapter  will  have 
served  its  purpose  if  a  case  has  been  made  out  for  the 
theory  that  the  dread  attaching  to  the  sexual  functions  is 
due  to  a  belief  in  jealous  and  lustful  spirits. 

1  The  quotations  are  from  W.A.I.,  v,  48. 

2  Robertson  Smith,  Bel.  Bern.,  449. 


142 


III. 

SYMPATHETIC  MAGIC. 


Hitherto  the  discussion  has  been  confined  to  the  nature 
of  the  demon  and  its  power  of  obsessing  mankind ;  it 
remains  to  treat  of  what  Tylor 1  describes  as  “  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  of  the  exorcist  who  talks  to  it,  coaxes  it  or 
threatens  it,  makes  offerings  to  it,  entices  or  drives  it 
out  of  the  patient’s  body,  and  induces  it  to  take  up  its 
abode  in  some  other.”  Much  of  the  magician’s  art  con¬ 
sisted  in  his  ability  to  transfer  a  spiritual  power  from  its 
abode  into  some  object  under  his  control.  In  other  wrords,  he 
employed  a  form  of  that  peculiar  wizardry  which  is  known 
as  sympathetic  magic.  This  force  is  not  merely  a  source 
of  power  for  the  magician  over  the  human  soul  alone,  but 
provides  him  with  a  means  of  attack  or  defence  against 
such  evil  spirits  or  demons  as  may  be  arrayed  against 
him.  It  is  a  species  of  sorcery  which  shows  itself  in  its 
crudest  form  in  the  use  of  small  figures  of  wax  or  other 
plastic  materials  fashioned  with  incantations  in  the  likeness 
of  some  enemy,  and  then  pierced  with  nails  and  pins,  or 
melted  before  the  fire,  that  their  human  counterpart  may 
by  these  means  be  made  to  suffer  all  kinds  of  torment. 
This  is  the  more  intelligible  when,  by  the  recognized 
rules  of  magic,  it  is  considered  more  effective  to  obtain 
some  portion  of  the  victim’s  nails  or  hair,  or  earth  from 
his  footsteps,  or  even  his  name,  as  an  additional  connection 

1  Primitive  Cv.lture,  4th  ed.,  ii,  125. 


WAX  FIGURES. 


143 


whereby  the  wax  figure  may  be  brought  into  still  closer 
affinity  with  its  prototype.  In  this  case  the  sorcerer 
possesses  something  definite  or  tangible  belonging  to  his 
foe,  and  although  the  mere  image  over  which  the  exorcisms  ' 
will  be  repeated  is  enough  by  itself,  yet  it  is  obviously 
more  satisfactor}^  to  hold  in  possession  something  which 
is  specifically  identified  with  the  person  in  question.  This 
form  of  magic  appeals  especially  to  the  popular  mind,  and 
there  are  abundant  traces  of  its  use  among  civilized  peoples 
from  very  early  times  to  the  present  day.  For  instance, 
among  the  ancient  Egyptians  the  use  of  wax  figures  can 
be  traced  back  as  far  as  the  old  kingdom.  A  story  in  the 
Westcar  Papyrus  relates  that  a  certain  official  in  the  reign 
of  a  king  of  the  third  dynasty,  about  3830  b.c.,  made 
a  crocodile  in  wax  which  was  to  devour  his  enemy,  and 
this  superstition  continued  in  Egypt  down  to  quite  late 
times.  In  the  second  tale  of  Khamuas,  written  in  Demotic 
Egyptian,  a  certain  Ethiopian  named  Hor,  “  son  of  the 
negress,”  is  overheard  to  say  that  he  would  send  his 
magic  up  to  Egypt,  and  thus  overcome  the  king  of  that 
land.  On  this  reaching  the  ears  of  the  Viceroy  of  Ethiopia, 
this  Hor  is  brought  to  court  into  the  presence,  and  the 
Viceroy  commands  him  to  perform  this  feat,  promising 
all  kinds  of  rewards  if  he  succeed.  Thereupon  Hor 
makes  a  litter  of  wax  for  four  runners,  and  on  reading 
certain  formulae  over  them  he  “  makes  them  live  ”  ;  then 
he  commands  them  to  go  up  to  Egypt  and  bring  back 
with  them  Pharaoh,  who  is  to  be  beaten  with  five  hundred 
blows  of  the  stick  and  taken  back  to  Egypt  within  six 
hours.1 

1  F-  LI.  Griffith,  Stories  of  the  High  Priests  of  Memphis ,  55.  On 
such  figures  among  the  Greeks  see  J.  E.  Harrison,  Prolegomena ,  138. 


144 


WAX  FIGURES. 


In  late  Hebrew  magic  the  same  procedure  is  imitated  : 
“If  tbou  wishest  to  cause  anyone  to  perish,  take  clay  from 
two  river  banks  and  make  an  image  therewith,  write  upon 
it  the  man’s  name,  then  take  seven  stalks  from  seven  date- 
trees  and  make  a  bow  with  horsehair  (?)  ;  set  up  the 
image  in  a  convenient  place,  stretch  thy  bow,  shoot  the 
stalks  at  it,  and  with  every  one  say  the  prescribed  words, 
which  begin  with  D*inp'  and  end  with  adding 

‘  Destroyed  be  N.,  son  of  "N.9  ”  1  The  Jews  of  Mosul  have 
in  their  magic-books  similar  directions  :  “  Take  new  wax 
and  make  of  it  a  figure  of  the  enemy,  and  his  name,  and 
the  name  of  his  mother,  and  then  pierce  it  with  a  thorn 
in  many  holes  and  fill  it  with  fine  black  glass,  and  make 
a  box  of  wax  and  put  the  figure  in  the  box  and  write 
these  names  and  put  (them)  under  its  head  ;  and  thou 
shalt  bury  it  in  a  grave  three  days  old  (?),  and  thou 
shalt  see  with  regard  to  the  enemy  all  that  thou  wouldst, 
and  this  is  what  thou  shalt  write  :  Apapi  Akpis  Akpisin 
Athsamis,  I  adjure  you  that  just  as  fire  continually  devoureth 
the  figures  of  N.,  son  of  N.,  on  the  altar,  (so)  it  shall  not 
be  quenched  in  the  heart  of  N.,  son  of  2  Or  the 
waxen  image  is  to  be  pierced  with  needles.3 


1  Jewish  Encycl .,  sub  voce  Amulet ,  i,  548. 

2  The  Folklore  of  Mossoul,  P.S.B.A. ,  1906,  103,  No.  7. 

3  Ibid.,  No.  8.  For  another  instance  in  Hebrew  of  making  an  image 
to  kill  a  man  see  Gaster,  Sword  of  Moses,  No.  68.  The  Nabatean 
sorcerers  of  the  Lower  Euphrates,  as  described  by  Ibn  Khaldun  (14th 
century),  had  the  same  practices  : — “  We  saw  with  our  own  eyes  one  of 
these  individuals  making  the  image  of  a  person  he  wished  to  bewitch. 
These  images  are  composed  of  things,  the  qualities  of  which  bear 
a  certain  relation  to  the  intentions  and  the  projects  of  the  operator, 
and  which  represent  by  means  of  symbols  the  names  and  the  qualities 
of  the  unfortunate  victim,  in  order  to  unite  and  disunite  them.  The 
magician  afterwards  pronounces  some  words_over  the  image  which  he 


WAX  FIGURES  AMONG  THE  MALAYS. 


145 


lo  come  down  to  quite  modern  times,  examples  may  be 
cited  from  the  customs  of  various  savage  races.  The 
Malays  believe  in  this  in  its  simplest  form,  moulding 
a  figure  of  their  enemy  in  the  wax  of  a  deserted 
honeycomb  and  mixing  therein  his  nail- parings  or  such 
other  parts  of  him  as  they  can  obtain,  and  this  is  then 
melted  over  a  flame  or  transfixed  with  pins.  The  whole 
peiformance  is  accompanied  by  spells  which  are  chanted 
over  the  figure,  thereby  giving  the  magician  power  to 
assimilate  the  nature  of  his  enemy  to  the  waxen  image.1 
It  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  all  the  numerous  well-known 
cases  of  this  form  of  superstition,  which  supplies  an 
intelligible  and  workable  base  wherefrom  it  is  easy  to 
observe  a  giadual  development  in  the  idea  underlying 
the  whole  principle  of  sympathy  in  magic.2 

The  collecting  of  dust,  nail-parings,  spittle,  and  such 
like,  as  an  addition  to  the  spell,  is  quite  as  common  in 


has  just  placed  before  him,  and  which  is  a  real  or  symbolical  repre¬ 
sentation  of  the  person  whom  he  wishes  to  bewitch  ;  then  he  blows 
and  emits  from  his  mouth  a  little  saliva  which  had  collected  there, 
and  at  the  same  time  makes  those  organs  vibrate  which  are  used  in 
the  utterance  of  this  malevolent  formula ;  next  he  holds  over  this 
symbolical  image  a  cord  which  he  has  prepared  with  this  intention, 
making  a  knot  in  it  to  signify  that  he  is  acting  with  resolution  and 
persistence,  that  at  the  moment  when  he  spat  he  made  a  compact  with 
the  demon  who  acted  as  his  associate  in  the  operation,  and  to  show  that 
he  is  acting  with  a  determined  resolution  to  consolidate  the  charm. 
To  these  processes  and  malevolent  words  a  wicked  spirit  is  united, 
which  comes  forth  from  the  operator’s  mouth  covered  with  saliva. 
Many  evil  spirits  then  descend,  and  the  result  of  all  is  that  the  magician 
causes  the  victim  to  be  attacked  by  the  desired  evil”  (Lenormant, 
Chald.  Magic ,  quoting  Slane,  i,  177).  See  also  Origen,  vi,  30,  for 
magical  figures. 

1  Skeat,  Malay  Magic ,  569. 

2  On  this  subject  see  Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  i,  10. 


146 


NAIL-PARINGS  AND  DUST. 


the  modern  ritual  as  in  the  ancient.  Lumholtz 1  says 
that,  in  order  to  he  able  to  practise  his  arts  against  any 
black  man,  the  wizard  must  be  in  possession  of  some 
article  that  has  belonged  to  him,  such  as  his  hair,  or  the 
food  left  in  his  camp.  Among  the  Malays,  the  soil  from 
the  footprint  of  the  intended  victim  is  recognized  as 
useful  in  charms.2 3  According  to  the  Mohammedans,  Al- 
Sameri,  when  he  cast  the  golden  calf  of  the  Israelites, 
took  dust  from  the  hoofprints  of  the  horse  of  the  angel 
Gabriel,  and  threw  it  into  the  mouth  of  the  calf,  which 
immediately  became  animated.5  Similar  is  the  late  Hebiew 
charm  for  killing  an  enemy  :  “  Take  dust  from  the  grave 

of  a  murdered  man  who  hath  been  slain  with  iron,  and 

take  water  from  three  wells  which  are  not  in  sight  of 
each  other,  and  knead  the  dust  with  the  water,  and  make 

it  into  a  cake  and  throw  it  into  the  house  of  thine 

enemy,  saying,  ‘  As  this  lord  of  the  dust  was  slain,  so 
may  N.,  son  of  N.,  he  slain.’  ” 4  In  an  Assyrian  charm 
the  dust  from  a  temple  is  an  ingredient.5  Another  Hebrew 
charm,  this  time  for  a  woman  that  has  been  sepaiated 
from  her  husband  through  enchantment  and  wishes  to 
rejoin  him,  runs  :  “  Thou  shalt  take  a  hair  of  the  woman, 
and  a  thread  which  she  bath  bound  on  him(?),  and  dust 
from  beneath  her  feet,  and  a  little  coriander-seed,  and 
thou  shalt  put  them  in  a  (piece  of)  cloth  and  hind  it  with 
the  aforementioned  thread,  and  hang  the  cloth  in  a  place 
under  which  the  man  is,  and  put  the  coriander-seed  upon 

1  Among  Cannibals ,  1889,  280,  quoted  Elworthy,  Evil  Eye ,  73. 

2  Skeat,  Malay  Magic ,  568  ;  Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  i,  281  ff. 

3  Sale,  Koran ,  Surah  ii,  note. 

4  Folklore  of  Mossoul,  P.S.B.A. ,  1906,  p.  104,  No.  12. 

5  Martin,  Textes  Religieux ,  243. 


NAIL-PARINGS,  HAIR,  AND  DUST.  147 

the  man,  and  thou  shalt  say:  ‘ Anusin  Anusin  Atetin 

•  • 

Atetin,  do  ye  subdue  and  bring  N.,  daughter  of  N.,  swiftly, 
swiftly,  swiftly,  with  speed,  with  speed,  with  speed,  at 
once,  at  once,  at  once  ;  and  then  shall  she  come  without 
a  doubt.’  ” 1  The  Arabian  solwan,  or  draught  that  makes 
the  mourner  forget  his  grief,  consists  of  water  with  which 
is  mingled  dust  from  the  grave.2  Again,  the  use  of  spittle 
in  magic  is  well  known  from  the  miracles  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  many  instances  of  its  use  are  given  bv 
Frazer.3  Doughty  relates  how  a  young  mother,  an  Arab 
woman,  brought  her  wretched  babe  and  bade  him  spit  on 
the  child’s  sore  eyes.4 

In  the  Talmud,5  Ameimar  says :  “  The  superior  of  the 
witches  told  me  that  when  a  person  meets  any  of  them 
he  should  mutter  thus:  ‘  May  a  potsherd  of  boiling  duno- 
be  stuffed  into  your  mouths,  you  ugly  witches  !  May  the 
hair  with  which  you  perform  your  sorcery  be  torn  from 
your  heads,  so  that  ye  become  bald!  May  the  wind  scatter 
the  crumbs  wherewith  ye  do  your  divinations  !  May  your 
spices  be  scatteied,  and  may  the  wind  blow  away  the 
saffion  you  hold  in  your  hands  for  the  practising  of 
soi  eery  !  Again,  among  the  Dabbis,  three  things  wTere 

said  respecting  the  finger-nails:  “  He  who  trims  his 
nails  and  buries  the  parings  is  a  pious  man  ;  he  who 
burns  these  is  a  righteous  man;  but  he  who  throws 
them  away  is  a  wicked  man,  for  mischance  might  follow 
should  a  female  step  over  them.”6 

P.S.B.A. ,  loc.  cit.,  No.  28.  2  Wellhausen,  Reste ,  142. 

3  Golden  Bough,  i,  389.  *  Arabia  Deserta ,  i,  527. 

5  Pesachim,  fol.  110,  cols,  i,  ii,  quoted  Hershon,  Talmudic  Miscellany 

230.  J ’ 

6  Moed  Katan,  fol.  18,  col.  i,  quoted  Hershon,  Talmudic  Miscellany ,  49. 


148 


KNOWING  THE  NAME. 


A  prayer  in  Ethiopic  published  by  Littmann,1  shows 
the  same  fear :  “  Save  us,  0  Lord  our  God,  by  the  power 
of  these  Thy  names  from  all  keepers  of  magic  art,  who 
corrupt  the  soul  and  who  make  poisons  with  skin  and 
pillows,  with  sweat  and  the  nails  of  our  hands  and  the 
hair  of  our  heads  and  the  nails  of  our  feet  and  with  the 
bair  of  our  eye  [brows]  and  the  hair  of  our  clothes  and 
the  hair  of  our  girdles,  and  where  we  eat  and  drink,  out 
of  our  whole  souls  and  bodies.”  Among  the  Sabians, 
according  to  Maimonides,2  “  another  custom,  which  is 
still  widespread,  is  this  :  whatever  is  separated  from  the 
body,  as  hair,  nail,  or  blood,  is  unclean.” 

Just  in  the  same  way,  a  knowledge  of  the  name  of 
one’s  enemy,  be  he  human  or  spiritual,  gives  enormously 
increased  power  to  the  magician.3  The  natives  of  many 
modern  savage  tribes  are  afraid  to  disclose  their  names 
lest  some  enemy  should  hear  it  and  thereby  lay  them 
under  a  spell.  An  Australian  black  is  always  very 
unwilling  to  tell  his  real  name,  doubtless  through  fear 
of  sorcerers.4  The  Arabs  have  similar  ideas ;  Doughty 
tells  of  one  Tollog,  the  Moahib  shekh,  who,  whilst  he 
was  handling  his  medicine  book,  turning  over  the  leaves 
to  see  the  pictures,  shrank  from  allowing  the  Englishman 
to  write  down  his  name.  “Khalil,”  said  he,  shrinking 
with  a  sudden  apprehension,  “  I  do  pray  thee,  write  not 
my  name  !  ”  5  The  modern  Abyssinian  believes  in  demons 

1  Arde'et,  J.A.O.S.,  xxv,  40. 

2  Guide  to  the  Perplexed ,  iii,  xlvii. 

s  On  this  see  Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  i,  413  ;  Jevons,  Introduction 
to  the  History  of  Religion ,  2nd  ed.,  60. 

4  R.  Brough  Smyth,  Aborigines  of  Victoria,  i,  469,  quoted  G.B., 

i,  404. 

5  Arabia  Beserta,  i,  425. 


KNOWING  THE  NAME. 


149 


being  constantly  on  the  watch  to  steal  a  Christian’s 
name  if  they  can,1  and  it  is  the  custom  to  conceal  the 
real  name  by  which  a  person  is  baptized,  and  to  call 

him  only  by  a  sort  of  nickname  which  his  mother 

gives  him  on  leaving  the  church.  The  reason  for  this 
is  that  the  bouda  (or  possession)  cannot  act  upon  a  person 
whose  name  he  does  not  know’.2  In  the  magic  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  if  a  demon  was  slow  to  appear  at  the 
command  of  the  wizard,  he  rendered  himself  liable  to 
be  cursed  and  buried  in  oblivion,  because  his  master 

knew  his  name  and  ‘  seal.’  In  one  of  the  books  on 
magic  the  student  of  sorcery  is  recommended  to  write 
the  seal  of  the  demon  on  a  piece  of  parchment,  and  put 
it  into  a  box  “  with  brimstone,  asafoetida,  and  other 

stinking  perfumes”;  he  must  then  exorcise  the  demon 
and  threaten  to  destroy  him.  “  I,  who  am  the  servant 
of  the  Most  High  .  .  .  will  excommunicate  thee,  will 
destroy  thy  name  and  seal  which  I  have  in  this  box, 
will  burn  them  with  unquenchable  fire,  and  bury  them 
in  unending  oblivion.”  3 

Among  the  ancient  Egyptians  the  monster  Apep  could 
be  destroyed  by  making  a  wax  figure  of  him,  and  casting 
it  into  the  fire  after  writing  his  name  upon  it ; 4  and  in 
Palestinian  demonology  the  same  thing  is  apparent  in  the 
words  of  the  Unclean  Spirit:  “Art  thou  come  to  destroy 
us  ?  I  know  thee  who  thou  art ;  the  Holy  One  of  God.”  5 
In  the  Assyrian  incantation  against  the  ghost  of  a  dead 

1  Lejean,  Voyage  en  Abyssinie ,  78. 

2  Parkyns,  Life  in  Abyssinia ,  300. 

3  A.  E.  Waite,  The  Book  of  Black  Magic ,  199. 

4  Budge,  Eg.  Magic ,  171. 

5  Luke  iv,  31. 


150 


WAX  FIGURES  IN  ASSYRIA. 


man,  quoted  on  p.  34,  the  figure  is  made  in  clay  and 
the  dead  man’s  name  inscribed  on  it. 

In  the  Testament  of  Solomon  the  king  asks  a  demon 
to  tell  him  the  name  of  a  certain  spirit,  and  the  demon 
says,  “I  cannot  tell  thee.  For  if  I  tell  his  name  I  render 
myself  incurable.” 1  According  to  Origen  every  demon 
must  be  addressed  by  his  local  name,  and  not  by  one 
translated  into  another  tongue.2 

In  the  same  primitive  form  this  custom  is  found  among 
the  Assyrians.  Not  only  was  it  possible  for  a  man  to 
make  an  enchanted  wax  figure  of  anyone  whom  he  desired 
to  hurt,  but  it  was  also  the  recognized  means  of  counter 
attack  that  the  person  so  assailed  should  make  corresponding 
figures,  and  thus  bring  his  antagonist’s  power  to  nought. 
If  an  Assyrian  imagined  himself  bewitched  or  laid  under 
a  spell  in  consequence  of  some  sickness  which  had  befallen 
him,  he  had  recourse  to  a  magician  who  aided  him  with 
counter  charms  and  incantations  against  the  witch  or 
wizard  who  had  obtained  power  over  him.  Figures  repre¬ 
senting  these  were  moulded,  and  the  following  incantation 
recited  over  them  : — 

“I  cry  unto  you,  O  gods  of  night, 

Unto  you  I  cry  through  the  night,  the  veiled  bride  ; 

I  cry  at  eventide,  at  midnight,  and  at  dawn  ; 

For  a  sorceress  hath  bewitched  me, 

An  enchantress  hath  enchanted  me  ; 

My  god  and  my  goddess  wail  over  me, 

Over  the  sickness  (?)  wherewith  I  am  stricken. 

I  stand  sleepless  night  and  day, 

For  they  have  choked  my  mouth  with  herbs,3 
And  with  upuntu  have  stopped  my  mouth, 

1  Ed.  Conybeare,  J.Q. ,  xi,  26. 

2  C.  Cels.,  v,  45,  quoted  Conybeare,  J.Q..,  ix,  66.  3  Cf.  p.  147. 


WAX  FIGURES  IN  ASSYRIA. 


151 


So  that  they  have  lessened  my  drink, 

And  my  joy  hath  turned  to  grief  and  my  delight  to  mourning. 
Rise  up,  0  ye  great  gods,  and  consider  my  cause, 

Give  judgment,  and  take  cognizance  of  my  way. 

I  have  fashioned  an  image  of  my  sorcerer  or  sorceress, 

Of  my  wizard  or  my  witch. 

And  I  have  placed  it  beneath  you  and  I  plead  my  cause. 

As  they  have  wrought  evil  and  sought  out  the  unclean 
So  may  they  die,  but  let  me  live  ! 55 1 

Further  on  in  the  tablet  the  magician  continues  his 
spell  thus  :  — 

“  I  close  the  pass,  I  shut  the  wall, 

I  restrain  the  magic  of  the  whole  world. 

Anu  and  Anatu  have  sent  unto  me  : — 

‘  Whom  shall  I  send  to  the  Mistress  of  the  Desert  ?  ’ 

Put  a  gag  on  the  mouth  of  my  wizard  and  my  witch, 

Perform  the  incantation  of  Marduk,  the  leader  of  the  gods. 

They  shall  cry  unto  thee  (Mistress),  but  answer  them  not. 

They  shall  speak  unto  thee,  but  hear  them  not  ; 

If  I  cry  to  thee,  answer  me, 

If  I  speak  unto  thee,  hear  me, 

By  the  command  which  Anu  and  Anatu  and  the  Mistress  of 
the  Desert  have  spoken.553 

“  [Incantation.]  These  are  figures  of  my  wizard, 

These  are  figures  of  my  witch, 

Of  my  sorcerer  and  my  sorceress, 

Of  my  wizard  and  my  witch, 

3 

«•••••  •• 

...  I  know  them  not. 

Evil  [sorcery,  magic,  witchcraft],  spells. 

1  Series  Maklu,  Tablet  I  (ed.  Tallqvist).  The  Tablet  K  249,  published 
by  Boissier,  Revue  Semitique ,  ii  (1894),  135,  prescribes  the  necessary 
medicinal  plants  for  Enuma  amelu  up  ini  limutti  ilammisu ,  “  when  evil 
sorcery  besets  a  man.55 

2  Maklu ,  i,  48  ff. 

3  Here  follow  twenty  names  for  possible  foes,  witch-doctors,  etc. 

4  Six  mutilated  lines. 


152 


WAX  FIGURES  IX  ASSYRIA. 


[Fire-god],  judge,  who  defeatest  the  wicked  and  hostile,  overcome 
them  that  I  be  not  destroyed  ! 

They  have  made  [images  like]  my  images,  likened  to  my  form, 
They  have  seized  my  .  .  .  ,  have  broken  my  neck, 

They  have  attacked  my  .  .  .  ,  have  fastened  on  my  loins, 

They  have  weakened  my  .  .  .  ,  have  taken  away  my  courage, 
They  have  enraged  [the  gods  against  me],  have  weakened  my 
strength, 

They  have  .  .  .  ,  they  have  bound  my  knees, 

They  have  filled  me  with  .  .  .  and  pain, 

They  have  made  me  eat  .  .  . 

They  have  made  me  drink  .  .  . 

They  have  poured  on  me  .  .  . 

They  have  anointed  me  with  a  salve  of  evil  plants, 

As  a  corpse  they  have  looked  upon  me, 

They  have  laid  the  water  of  my  life  in  a  grave, 

They  have  enraged  against  me  god,  king,  lord,  and  prince. 

Thou,  0  Fire-god,  that  burnest  my  wizard  and  my  witch, 

That  destroyest  the  iniquity  of  the  seed  of  my  wizard  and  my 
witch, 

It  is  thou  that  destroyest  evil. 

v  y 

I  call  on  thee,  like  Samas  the  judge, 

Give  me  a  decision,  judge  my  cause, 

Burn  my  wizard  and  my  witch, 

Devour  my  enemies,  dissipate  my  foes  ; 

May  thy  dread  light  reach  them, 

Like  water  from  a  skin-bottle  in  a  leak  (?)  may  they  be  brought 
to  an  end, 

Like  the  hewing  of  a  stone  may  their  fingers  be  cut  off. 

By  thy  mighty  command,  that  cannot  be  changed, 

And  thy  true  favour,  which  cannot  be  altered. 

Perform  the  incantation.” 

The  ceremony  ends  by  burning  the  figures  of  demons.1 

1  The  wizard  is  also  accused  of  having  delivered  the  figure  of  the  sick 
man  to  a  corpse,  or  of  having  shut  it  within  a  wall  or  under  the  threshold, 
or  at  the  entrance  (?)  of  a  wall,  or  in  a  bridge  that  men  might  trample 
on  it  ;  or  of  having  buried  it  in  the  hole  of  a  canal-digger  (?)  or  in 
a’gardener’s  channel ;  or  of  having  delivered  it  to  the  power  of  Labartu, 
the  daughter  of  Anu,  or  to  the  Fire-god,  the  son  of  Anu  (iv,  27). 


HAIR,  SPITTLE,  AND  RAGS. 


153 


The  fear  that  the  man’s  hair  or  spittle,  or  rags  of  his 
clothing,  should  have  come  into  the  possession  of  his  enemy 
is  clearly  indicated  in  one  of  the  prayers  to  Nuzku — 

“  Those  who  have  made  images  in  my  shape, 

Who  have  likened  them  unto  my  form, 

Who  have  taken  of  my  spittle,  plucked  out  my  hair, 

Torn  my  garments  or  gathered  the  cast-off  dust  of  my  feet, 

May  the  warrior  Fire-god  dissolve  their  spell  !  ”  1 

What  is  more,  we  have  a  full  description  of  such  vestigia 
as  gave  help  in  magic  in  an  incantation  text  : — “  The 
sorcery  of  spittle  which  is  spat  forth  evilly  by  the  mouth, 
the  bond  of  sorcery  bound  evilly,  the  shaving  of  the  ‘side,’ 
ditto  of  the  body,  the  parings  of  the  nails,  rag  (P),  strip  (?), 
an  old  shoe,  a  cut  lace  ;  ‘  refuse  ’  which  hath  ‘  made  atone¬ 
ment’  on  the  body,  food  which  the  body  of  a  man  hath 
digested,  food  which  in  eating  hath  been  rejected,  water 
which  hath  been  left  over  in  drinking,  evil  spittle  which 
the  dust  hath  not  covered,  the  air  of  the  desert 2  hath 


1  Tallqvist,  Maqlu ,  Tablet  I,  1.  131.  The  entire  point  of  this  passage 
has  been  missed  both  by  Tallqvist  and  Jastrow  ( Religion ,  286)  ;  the 
latter,  following  Tallqvist  {Maqlu,  39),  translates — 

“  Who  have  taken  away  my  breath,  torn  my  hairs, 

Who  have  rent  my  clothes,  have  hindered  my  feet  from  treading 
the  dust.” 

The  Assyrian  for  these  lines  is — 

ru'ti-ia  ilku  iarti-ia  imlusu 

ulinni-ia  ibtufcu  etiku  eprati  sepi-ia  ispusu. 

But  the  last  phrase  (literally  “  the  passing  of  the  dust  of  my  feet  ”) 
surely  must  refer  to  the  common  custom  of  taking  the  dust  from  the 
footprints  and  kneading  it  into  the  image.  The  meaning  of  the  word 
sapdsu  is  uncertain,  but  from  epir  sepi-ia  sapsu  ( W.A.I. ,  iv,  57  ;  i,  55) 
‘  to  gather  ’  seems  to  be  fairly  correct.  Muss-Arnolt  seems  to  have 
found  the  right  idea  in  aufwiihlen. 

2  Or,  with  the  Sumerian,  4  to  the  desert.’ 


154 


MATERIALS  FOR  FIGURES. 


not  carried  off  (?).” 1  In  a  list  of  plants  which  appear  to 
have  a  magical  significance,  one  of  them  is  prescribed 
“  in  the  dust  of  a  man’s  tread,”  probably  as  an  amulet, 
and  another  “  in  the  dust  of  the  great  gate  kameti  (or 
kasipti)”  2 3 * 

The  suppliant  might  use  tallow,  bronze,  clay,  bitumen, 
dung  (P),  wood,  and  other  materials  for  his  little  images, 
and  these  were  then  cast  ceremonially  into  a  brazier,  that 
the  Fire-god  might  consume  them  — 

“  0  mighty  Fire-god,  dread  light  of  day, 

That  guidest  aright  both  gods  and  princes, 

That  judgest  evil  men  and  women, 

Rise  up  in  judgment  with  me,  like  the  Warrior  Sun  ; 

Grant  me  a  decision,  judge  my  cause, 

Burn  up  my  sorcerer  and  sorceress, 

Devour  mine  enemies,  bring  to  nought  my  foes, 

And  may  thine  awful  light  o’ercome  them.55  3 

The  third  tablet  of  the  series  A faklu,  from  which  the 
preceding  charms  are  taken,  contains  a  more  elaborate 
ceremony  than  either  of  the  two  preceding.  The  same 
images  are  made,  but  they  are  to  be  placed  in  the  model 
of  a  ship  which  was  then  broken  to  pieces,  probably  after 
being  placed  in  a  basin  of  water. 

“  She  who  hath  bewitched  me,  hath  laid  me  under  a  spell, 
Hath  cast  me  into  the  river  flood, 

Hath  cast  me  into  the  river  depth, 

Unto  the  witch  hath  said  ‘  Bewitch,5 


1  Haupt,  A.S.K.T.,  11,  i,  60. 

2  G.T.,  xiv,  pi.  44,  cols.  1-2,  11.  12,  9.  Cf.  pi.  42,  K.  274,  11.  22,  28  (?). 

3  MaJclu ,  Tablet  II.  A  psalm  to  Ishtar,  published  by  L.  W.  King, 

Seven  Tablets ,  222,  although  full  of  phrases  such  as  are  found  in  the 
so-called  Penitential  Psalms,  shows  what  the  intention  of  the  sick 

man  is  (1.  55  :  “  put  an  end  to  the  evil  bewitchments  of  my  body 5J). 


CEREMONIES  WITH  A  SHIP. 


155 


Unto  the  enchantress  hath  said  £  Enchant,5 
May  this  be  as  her  ship, 

Like  this  ship  may  she  be  wrecked, 

May  her  spell  be  wrecked,  and  upon  her 
And  upon  her  image  may  it  recoil, 

May  her  cause  fail,  but  let  mine  succeed.55 

“  My  ship  the  Moon-god  hath  fitted  out, 

Between  its  masts  (?)  it  carries  ‘  Release,5 
Sorcerer  and  sorceress  sit  therein, 

Wizard  and  witch  sit  therein, 

Enchanter  and  enchantress  sit  therein.55 

Apparently  from  the  mutilated  line  which  follows,  “  [and 
now]  the  rigging  is  cut,”  the  bewitched  man  here  begins 
to  destroy  the  ship,  with  the  figures  of  his  tormentors 
inside  it,  and  finally  it  is  cast  into  the  fire  and  burnt. 
This  method  of  making  a  ship  full  of  one’s  enemies  was 
not  confined  to  Babylonia,  for  there  is  a  very  curious 
instance  of  it  related  of  Hectanebus  in  the  Ethiopic 
traditions  of  Alexander  the  Great.  In  addition  to  the 
ordinary  charms  of  this  character  which  this  Egyptian 
magician  possessed,  such  as  influencing  Olympias  by  means 
of  a  figure  made  of  plants  with  magical  properties  and 
inscribed  with  her  name,1  he  was  able  to  overcome  his 
enemies  in  the  following  manner  : — “  How  as  concerning 
this  man  [Hectanebus],  whenever  [his]  enemies  lifted 
themselves  up  against  him  to  do  battle  with  him,  he 
did  not  march  out  against  them  with  soldiers,  and 
armies,  and  an  array  of  spears,  but  it  was  his  wont  to  go 
into  his  palace  and  to  shut  the  door  upon  himself.  He 
then  took  a  brazen  vessel,  and  having  filled  it  with  water 
to  resemble  the  sea  he  muttered  over  it  certain  words  which 


1  Budge,  Life  and  Exploits  of  Alexander  the  Great,  ii,  16. 


156 


RITUAL  BEFORE  BATTLE. 


he  knew.  If  the  enemy  came  against  him  [by  sea]  he  used 
to  make  models  of  ships  out  of  wax  [melted]  over  a  fire, 
and  to  place  upon  the  water  these  waxen  ships,  that  were 
[intended]  to  represent  the  ships  [of  the  enemy]  which 
were  on  the  sea.  Then  he  muttered  over  them  the  names 
of  the  gods  of  the  country,  and  other  awful  and  terrible 
names,  and  then  he  set  the  waxen  ships  on  the  water  in 
his  basin,  in  resemblance  of  the  ships  which  were  on  the 
sea.  If  the  enemy  rose  up  against  him  on  the  sea  he  made 
the  waxen  ships  to  sink,  and  he  thereby  also  submerged  the 
ships  of  the  enemy  who  wished  to  come  to  do  battle  with 
him.  And  if  it  happened  [that  the  enemy  came  against 
him]  by  land  he  was  wont  to  make  models  of  the  horse¬ 
men]  in  wax  like  unto  the  soldiers  of  the  army  who  were 
coming  to  do  battle  with  him,  and  having  muttered  over 
them  the  awful  and  terrible  names  [which  he  knew]  the 
soldiers  of  the  enemy  were  suddenly  overcome  before  his 
face,  and  the  enemy  went  down  before  him,  and  submitted 
unto  him.”  1 


1  Budge,  Life  and  Exploits  of  Alexander  the  Great ,  ii,  4,  5.  Are  we 
to  consider  Ezek.  iv,  1,  2,  a  parallel  in  any  way  ?  “  Take  thee  a  tile, 

and  lay  it  before  thee,  and  pourtray  upon  it  a  city,  even  Jerusalem  : 
and  lay  siege  against  it,  and  build  forts  against  it.” 

Among  certain  savage  tribes  demons  are  expelled  by  being  sent 
away  in  vehicles  of  various  kinds.  Frazer  says  that  a  common  one 
is  a  little  ship  or  boat.  For  instance,  he  quotes  (iii,  97)  Frangois 
Yalentyn,  Oud-en  nieuw  Ost-Indien ,  iii,  14,  who  describes  a  rite  in 
Ceram  which  takes  place  when  a  village  suffers  from  sickness.  A  little 
ship  is  made  and  filled  with  rice,  tobacco,  eggs,  and  so  forth,  and  the 
sicknesses  are  addressed  in  a  valedictory  incantation  as  though  they 
were  demons,  and  adjured  never  to  return.  The  ship  is  then  carried 
to  the  seashore,  and  is  allowed  to  drift  away.  Similar  ceremonies 
are  in  vogue  in  Timor-laut  (Riedel,  De  sluik  en  kroeshange  rassen 
tusschen  Selebes ,  p.  304,  quoted  Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  iii,  98)  and  in  the 


RITUAL  BEFORE  BATTLE. 


157 


A  similar  story  is  told  of  Aristotle  in  Etbiopic,  for  it  is 
related  that  he  gave  Alexander  a  box  filled  with  figures  of 
his  enemies  with  their  swords  bent  and  bowstrings  cut, 
placed  face  downwards  and  nailed  in,  the  whole  being 
secured  with  an  iron  chain.1 

Among  the  Babylonians  the  proceedings  which  took  place 
before  battle  were  very  closely  akin.  The  ritual  is  worth 
giving  in  full — 

“  Ritual :  when  an  enemy  [attacks]  the  king  and  his  land  .  .  . 

The  king  shall  go  forth  on  the  right  wing  of  the  army, 

And  thou  shalt  sweep  (?)  the  earth  (?)  clean,  and  sprinkle  pure 
water, 

And  set  [three]  altars,  one  for  Istar,  one  for  Samas,  and  one  for 
Nergal, 

And  offer  each  a  loaf  of  wheaten  meal, 

And  make  a  mash  of  honey  and  butter, 

Pouring  in  dates  and  .  .  .  -meal,  and  sacrifice  three  full-grown 
sheep, 


island  of  Buro  (Riedel,  op.  cit.,  p.  25) ;  and  see  many  other  interesting 
forms  of  the  same  ceremony. 

Note  also  the  end  of  an  incantation  against  spirits  among  the  Malays, 
in  a  boat  ceremony,  which  bears  a  great  resemblance  to  the  wording  of 
the  Assyrian  spell  on  p.  25 — 

“  Go  ye  to  the  ocean  which  has  no  wave, 

And  the  plain  where  no  herb  grows, 

And  never  return  hither. 

But  if  ye  return  hither, 

Ye  shall  be  consumed  by  the  curse, 

At  sea  ye  shall  get  no  drink, 

Ashore  ye  shall  get  no  food, 

But  gape  in  vain  about  the  world.” 

(Skeat,  Malay  Magic ,  pp.  433-5,  quoted  Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  iii, 
100.)  Compare  also  the  annual  expulsion  by  boats  in  Frazer,  iii,  105  ; 
and  for  similar  superstitions  in  China,  El  worthy,  Evil  Eye ,  438,  quoting 
Public  Health ,  1894,  376. 

1  Ibid.,  362. 


158 


RITUAL  BEFORE  BATTLE. 


Flesh  of  the  right  thigh,  hinsa- flesh,  and  sum  e-flesh  thou  shalt 
offer, 

Sprinkle  upuntu  with  cypress  on  a  censer, 

And  make  a  libation  of  [honey],  butter,  wine,  oil,  and  scented  (?) 
oil. 

Then  shalt  thou  make  an  image  of  the  foe  in  tallow, 

Bend  backwards  his  face  with  a  cord  ; 

The  Eunuch  (?)  of  the  king,  who  is  named  like  his  master, 

Shall  .  .  .  the  robes  (?)  of  the  king  .  .  . 

Shall  stand  before  the  preparation  and  repeat  this  formula  before 
Samas.”  1 

The  method  against  a  foe  provided  by  a  Hebrew  manu¬ 
script  from  Mosul  is  interesting  from  its  similarity  to  a  story 
of  Mohammed.  Mohammed,  at  the  victory  near  Mecca  in 
the  second  year  of  the  Hejra,  by  the  direction  of  Gabriel 
took  a  handful  of  gravel,  and  threw  it  towards  the  enemy, 
saying  “  May  their  faces  be  confounded !  ”  whereupon 
they  immediately  turned  their  backs  and  fled.2  The 

1  Zimmerri,  Ritualtafeln ,  173.  Frazer  ( Golden  Bough ,  i,  14)  quotes 
a  similar  custom  among  the  Hindoos  from  Hillebrandt,  Vedische  Opfer 
und  Zauber ,  in  which  effigies  of  the  soldiers,  horses,  elephants,  and 
chariots  of  a  hostile  army  were  modelled  in  dough,  and  then  pulled 
in  pieces.  For  other  Semitic  customs  before  going  into  action  Robertson 
Smith  (Bel.  Sem .,  1894,  37)  quotes  1  Sam.  iv,  7,  the  Carthaginians  with 
Philip  of  Macedon,  and  the  Arab  tradition  “  Yaghuth  went  forth  with 
us  against  Morad.”  Curtiss  (Bibl.  World ,  xxiii,  97)  describes  the 
preparations  for  battle  among  the  Ruala,  a  subdivision  of  the  Aeneze, 
how  they  sacrifice  to  Abu’d-Duhtir  that  he  may  come  and  help  them 
to  victory,  and  sprinkle  the  blood  on  the  merkah  of  the  camel  on  which 
the  shekB s  sister  or  daughter  rides  into  battle.  She  perfumes  her 
hair,  puts  antimony  on  her  eyelids,  exposes  her  bosom,  and  makes 
herself  as  handsome  as  possible,  and  it  is  around  the  merkah  that  the 
battle  rages. 

2  Sale,  Koran ,  Surah  iii.  For  other  instances  of  throwing  sand  or 
stones  we  may  compare  a  story  in  Ethiopic  (Littmann,  Arde’et,  J.A.O.S., 
xxv,  30),  which  relates  how  the  disciples  came  to  a  place  where 
many  demons  were  assembled,  but  on  their  taking  up  sand  in  their 
hands  and  looking  up  to  heaven,  with  the  prayer  “  Disperse,  0  Lord, 


WAX  FIGURES  ATTRACTING  THE  DISEASE-DEMON.  159 


Hebrew  charm  is  as  follows: — “For  war:  Take  dust  from 
under  thy  left  foot  and  say  oyer  it  these  names  and  scatter 
it  against  them  (the  enemy),  and  they  shall  no  more  be 
able  to  make  war ;  and  this  is  what  thou  shalt  say  :  ‘  In 
the  name  of  Loki  Yoel  Antsel.  (Another  book)  Antsel 
and  Mehothiel  Yoy  Hia  Abniel  Ahamnel  Yiol  Wahi  Yokiel 
Miskathiel  Yah — by  your  purity  that  ye  may  bind  all  kinds 
of  fighting  for  brigandage  against  N.,  son  of  N.,  henceforth 
and  for  ever  until  the  wrath  pass.  Amen,  so  may  the 
will  be.  ’  ”  1 

The  wax-figure  procedure  is  also  used  in  an  inverse  way 
for  a  sick  man  to  rid  him  of  the  devil  that  possesses  him. 
This  was  by  fashioning  an  image  of  the  patient  in  clay, 
wax,  or  dough,2  and  with  the  proper  charms  the  magician 
hoped  to  induce  the  demon  to  leave  the  human  body  and 
enter  its  waxen  counterpart.  For  instance,  one  tablet  3 
directs  that  a  piece  of  sea-clay  should  be  taken  and 
moulded  into  the  likeness  of  the  patient  and  placed  on 
his  loins  at  night  in  order  that  the  Plague-god  might'  be 
expelled.  Further,  at  dawn  the  “atonement  for  his  body” 
was  to  be  made,  the  “  Incantation  of  Eridu  ”  performed, 
and  the  man’s  face  turned  to  the  west.  A  similar  text 


all  demons  who  beset  us  ;  by  the  power  of  these,  Thy  holy  names,  close 
their  mouths  and  destroy  their  power,”  they  annihilated  the  demons  by 
casting  the  sand  against  them.  Similarly,  the  Haj  pilgrims  throw 
pebbles  on  reaching  the  Jamratu’l-4 Aqaba  shortly  after  sunrise.  Seven 
successive  times  each  casts  a  pebble  at  the  pillar  in  order  to  confound 
the  devils  who  are  supposed  to  be  there  (Klein,  Religion  of  Islam ,  170  ; 
cf.  Jewish  Encycl .,  i,  89).  In  Sinai,  when  an  Arab  passes  the  mound 
of  Abu  Zenna,  he  casts  a  stone  against  it  in  opprobrium. 

1  Folklore  of  Mossoul,  P.S.B.A. ,  1906,  105,  No.  21. 

2  Dough  is  also  used  by  the  Malays  (Skeat,  Malay  Magic ,  452). 

3  Devils ,  Tablet £  R.’ 


160  WAX  FIGURES  ATTRACTING  THE  DISEASE-DEMON. 


directs  the  image  to  be  made  in  dough,  and  the  physician 
is  to  bring  water  to  the  man,  allowing  it  to  trickle  down, 
with  the  following  directions : — 

“  Bring  forth  a  censer  and  a  torch. 

As  the  water  trickleth  away  from  his  body, 

So  may  the  pestilence  in  his  body  trickle  away  ; 

Return  these  waters  into  a  cup  and 
Pour  them  forth  in  the  market-place.”  1 

The  Asakku ,  probably  some  kind  of  fever,  was  driven 
out  also  in  this  way.  Marduk  goes  to  his  father,  Ea,  for 
help  (a  common  device  in  this  class  of  texts),  and  is  thus 
advised  : — 

“  Fashion  an  image  of  his  form  in  dough  on  the  ground,  and 
Set  a  king  over  him  and 
Take  his  hand  before  the  Sun,  and 
Repeat  the  incantation  s^r-azag-ga,  and 
[Pour  (?)  ]  water  on  his  head  [and]  2 

;; 

•  •••••• 

( The  remainder  is  much  mutilated.) 

Another  late  Hebrew  charm  prescribes  the  same  kind  of 
thing  :  “  If  thou  wishest  to  heal  a  man  from  enchantment, 
or  from  an  evil  spirit,  or  from  folly  (‘  madness  ’),  or  from 
any  of  the  things  mentioned,  then  draw  the  picture  of 
a  man  on  virgin  parchment  with  both  hands  outstretched  ; 
under  the  right  hand  draw  the  image  of  a  little  man,  and 
write  on  his  shoulder  Ariel ;  at  his  feet  draw  the  image 
of  another  man,  but  draw  it  with  red  ink,  for  this  is  an 
angel  appointed  over  fire,  and  write  on  his  shoulder  (or, 
variant,  on  his  forehead)  Lahabiel,  and  under  them  the 
following  conjuration  :  I  conjure  thee,  Raphael,  thou  and 
thy  servants  who  are  called  by  thy  name,  and  whose  name 


1  Ibid.,  Tablet  ‘  T.5 


2  TEA./.,  v,  50,  ii,  57. 


CHARM  AGAINST  THE  LABARTU. 


161 


is  included  in  their  names,  viz.,  Rahabiel,  Phaniel,  Ariel, 
Lahabiel,  in  tbe  name  of  Azbuga,  that  thou  healest  so 
and  so  from  all  illness  and  all  hurt  and  all  evil  spirit. 
Amen,  Amen,  Amen,  Sela,  Sela,  Sela.”  1 

One  of  the  rituals  in  the  series  Labartu  directs  that 
on  tbe  first  day  in  tbe  morning  tbe  figure  of  a  labartu 
or  ‘  bag-demon  ’  shall  be  made,  “  as  one  that  (is  bound) 
in  prison/’  and  twelve  cakes  of  some  peculiar  meal  laid 
before  her,  and  a  libation  of  water  poured  out.  A  black 
dog  must  then  be  added  to  tbe  figure,  the  heart  of  a  young 
pig  placed  on  her  mouth,  and  an  offering  made  of  bahru- 
fruit,  white  bread,  and  a  salve-box  (?).  The  incantation 
which  accompanies  this  ceremony  is  to  be  repeated  at  dawn, 
midda}q  and  evening,  and  the  figure  is  to  be  put  at  the 
sick  man’s  head  for  three  days,  and  on  the  third  dajq  as 
tbe  day  draws  to  its  close,  it  is  to  be  buried  in  the  corner 
of  tbe  wall.2 * 

In  a  mutilated  tablet  a  prescription  is  given  for  healing 
some  disease  or  plague.  After  the  recital  of  a  long  chant 
the  sorcerer  makes  a  small  figure  of  tbe  patient  in  clay  (P), 
and  then  binds  “  the  hair  of  a  white  goat  and  tbe  hair 
of  a  black  goat  ”  round  his  bead.  Tbe  clay  figure  is 

1  Gaster,  P.S.B.A. ,  1900,  339.  The  picture  of  a  man  was  reckoned 
quite  as  effective  as  wax  :  e.g.,  a  modern  MS.  from  Mosul  (Hebrew) 
provides  that  if  a  figure  of  an  enemy  be  painted  in  saffron  on  parch¬ 
ment  with  his  name,  with  various  signs  inscribed  upon  it,  and  put  in 
the  earth  with  the  left  hand  until  he  tread  on  it,  and  then  finally  it  be 
pounded  with  a  hammer,  so  shall  the  enemy  be  smitten  and  have  no 
rest,  either  day  or  night  ( The  Folklore  of  Mossoul,  P.S.B.A .,  1906, 
107,  No.  32).  Or  if  an  image  of  an  angel  was  drawn  (in  a  love-charm) 
with  the  ‘  Thunderstone 5  [eben  bara/c)  and  placed  on  a  closed  door,  that 
door  would  open  by  itself  (Gaster,  P.S.B.A .,  1900,  344). 

2  W.A.I. ,  iv,  55;  i,  r.  20;  Myhrman,  Die  Labartu-Texte ,  Z.A., 

xvi,  193. 


M 


162 


PARALLELS  AMONG  THE  MALAYS. 


then  laid  on  his  body,  the  Incantation  of  Ea  is  performed, 
and  the  patient’s  face  is  then  turned  to  the  west,  and  by 
these  means  the  evil  influence  is  removed.1 

A  curious  parallel  is  to  be  found  among  the  Malays, 
both  from  its  similarity  to  the  preceding  and  also  in  its 
use  of  particoloured  cords,  of  which  more  will  be  seen 
later.  The  Malay  magicians  have  a  practice  of  making 
little  images  of  dough  of  beasts,  birds,  etc.,  which  are 
placed  on  a  sacrificial  tray  together  with  betel-leaves, 
cigarettes,  and  tapers.  “  One  of  the  tapers  is  made  to 
stand  upon  a  silver  dollar,  with  the  end  of  a  piece  of 
particoloured  thread  inserted  between  the  dollar  and  the 
foot  of  the  taper,  and  the  other  end  of  this  thread  is 
given  to  the  patient  to  hold  while  the  necessary  charm 
is  being  repeated.”  The  devil  is  supposed  to  enter  the 
images,  and  as  soon  as  this  has  happened  the  magician 
“  looses  three  slip-knots  and  repeats  a  charm  to  induce  the 
evil  spirit  to  go,  and  throws  away  the  untied  knots  outside 
the  house.” 2  The  use  of  this  particoloured  cord  occurs 
elsewhere  in  Malay  sorcery.3  Similar  are  the  methods  of 
Indian  conjurors  to  remove  devils.  They  take  water 
from  seven  or  nine  different  places,  put  it  into  a  new 

earthen  pot,  together  with  a  few  of  the  leaves  of  seven  or 

✓ 

nine  different  trees  and  plants,  and  read  once  over  it,  if 
intended  for  the  removal  of  the  devil,  enchantment,  etc., 
certain  chapters ;  or  if  to  change  bad  luck,  they  read  a 
chapter  and,  after  blowing  on  the  water,  set  it  aside.  They 


1  Devils ,  Tablet  ‘  S.5 

2  Skeat,  Malay  Magic ,  432.  The  charm  begins  :  “  I  have  made 
a  substitute  for  you.” 

3  e.g.,  ibid.,  569. 


PARALLELS  IN  INDIA. 


163 


then  place  in  front  of  the  patient  a  human  figure,  or  that 
of  Hunnoman  (the  monkey-headed  god)  ;  tie  to  its  neck  one 
end  of  a  cord  formed  of  three  kinds  of  coloured  thread,  and 
the  other  to  the  patient’s  waist  or  neck,  before  whom  they 
deposit  cocoanuts,  flowers,  a  piece  of  yellow  cloth,  etc. ;  and 
taking  nine  limes,  they  repeat  the  aet-ool-koorsee  over  each, 
and  divide  them  into  two,  placed  on  the  head,  shoulders, 
loins,  back,  knees,  and  feet  of  the  patient  respectively ; 
then  bathe  him  with  the  above-mentioned  pot  of  water.  In 
bathing  they  necessarily  dig  the  place  a  little,  to  allow  of 
the  water  being  absorbed  into  the  earth  ;  for  should  any 
other  person  happen  to  put  his  pot  on  the  water,  the  same 
misfortune  would  befall  him  as  did  the  patient.1 


1  Jaffur  Shurreef  and  Herklots,  Qanoon-e-Islam,  258.  Frazer  ( Golden 
Bough ,  ii,  348  ff.)  quotes  many  instances  which  throw  light  on  the 
Assyrian  incantation  : — “  The  Alfoors  of  Minahassa,  in  Celebes,  will 
sometimes  transport  a  sick  man  to  another  house,  while  they  leave  on 
his  bed  a  dummy  made  up  of  a  pillow  and  clothes.  This  dummy  the 
demon  is  supposed  to  mistake  for  the  sick  man,  who  subsequently 
recovers”  ( Graafiand ).  “  In  certain  of  the  western  districts  of  Borneo, 

if  a  man  is  taken  suddenly  and  violently  sick,  the  physician,  who  in 
this  part  of  the  world  is  generally  an  old  woman,  fashions  a  wooden 
image  and  brings  it  seven  times  into  contact  with  the  sufferer’s  head, 
while  she  says  :  ‘  This  image  serves  to  take  the  place  of  the  sick  man  ; 
sickness,  pass  over  into  the  image.’  Then  with  some  rice,  salt,  and 
tobacco  in  a  little  basket,  the  substitute  is  carried  to  the  spot  where 
the  evil  spirit  is  supposed  to  have  entered  into  the  man.  There  it  is 
set  upright  on  the  ground,  after  the  physician  has  invoked  the  spirit 
as  follows  :  ‘  0  devil,  here  is  an  image  which  stands  instead  of  the  sick 
man.  Release  the  soul  of  the  sick  man  and  plague  the  image,  for  it  is 
indeed  prettier  and  better  than  he  ’  ”  (Ruhr).  “  Similarly,  in  the  island 
of  Dama,  between  New  Guinea  and  Celebes,  where  sickness  is  ascribed 
to  the  agency  of  demons,  the  doctor  makes  a  doll  of  palm-leaf  and  lays 
it,  together  with  some  betel,  rice,  and  half  of  an  empty  egg-shell  on  the 
patient’s  head.  Lured  by  this  bait  the  demon  quits  the  sufferer’s  body 
and  enters  the  palm-leaf  doll,  which  the  wily  doctor  thereupon  promptly 
decapitates  ”  {Riedel). 


164 


PARTICOLOURED  THREADS. 


Again,  in  Indian  magic,  in  order  to  drive  out  demons 
from  women  the  following  is  part  of  the  procedure.  The 
‘  fairy-women  ’  (who  “  are  an  illiterate  class  of  people ; 
many  of  them  do  not  so  much  as  know  the  name  of  God  ”) 
take  “  three  different  coloured  silk  or  cotton  thread,  either 
plain  or  twisted,  and  form  gunda ,  that  is,  they  form  twenty- 
one  or  twenty-two  knots  on  it.  The  Moollas  or  Seeanas,  in 
making  each  knot,  read  some  incantation  or  other  over  it, 
and  blow  upon  it;  and  when  finished  it  is  fastened  to  the 
neck  or  upper  arm  of  the  patient.”  1 

jSTow  this  use  of  particoloured  threads  in  Eastern  magic 
is  a  distinct  reminiscence  of  the  Mesopotamian  wizardry, 
of  which  several  instances  are  to  be  found  in  Assyrian 
incantations.  As  an  example  we  find  a  development  of 


1  Qanoon-e- Islam,  262.  There  are  curious  parallels  from  the  more 
Western  writers.  “  Petronius,  writing  of  certain  incantations  performed 
for  the  purpose  of  freeing  a  certain  Encolpius  from  a  spell,  says  :  £  She 
then  took  from  her  bosom  a  web  of  twisted  threads  of  various  colours, 
and  bound  it  on  my  neck  5  55  {Petr.  Sat.,  131) ;  and  Persius  speaks  of 
tying  threads  of  many  colours  on  the  necks  of  infants  as  a  charm 
against  fascination  {Sat.,  ii,  31).  Both  these  instances  are  quoted  by 
Elworthy,  Evil  Eye,  58,  59.  Of.  the  use  of  the  blue  ribband  prescribed 
as  necessary  in  the  Hebrew  fringes  in  Num.  xv,  38,  and  the  badge  of 
Ethiopian  Christianity,  worn  by  all  classes,  which  is  a  blue  neck-thread 
{mateb)  of  silk  or  wool  (A.  J.  Hayes,  The  Source  of  the  Blue  Nile ,  250). 
There  are  two  curious  charms  from  late  Jewish  sources  (Barclay,  The 
Talmud,  20)  for  bleeding  at  the  nose,  which  include  a  double  thread. 
The  man  must  take  a  root  of  grass,  the  cord  of  an  old  bed,  paper, 
saffron,  and  the  red  part  of  the  inside  of  a  palm-tree,  and  burn  them 
together  ;  and  then  take  some  wool,  and  twist  two  threads,  dip  them 
in  vinegar,  roll  them  in  ashes,  and  put  them  into  his  nose  ;  or  let  him 
look  out  for  a  stream  of  water  which  flows  from  east  to  west,  and  let 
him  go  and  stand  with  one  leg  on  each  side  of  it,  and  take  with  his 
right  hand  some  mud  from  under  his  left  foot,  and  with  his  left  hand 
from  under  his  right  foot,  and  then  he  must  twist  two  threads  of  wool 
and  dip  them  into  the  mud,  and  put  them  into  his  nose. 


TYING  KNOTS. 


165 


sympathetic  magic  in  the  sixth  tablet  of  the  Surpu  series, 
where  directions  are  given  for  removing  a  tabu  from  a  man, 
by  binding  to  his  limbs  a  double  cord  of  black  and  white 
threads  which  has  been  twisted  on  a  spindle. 

“  He  hath  turned  his  [steps  ?]  to  a  Temple-woman  (?), 

Ishtar  hath  sent  her  Temple-woman  (?), 

Hath  seated  the  wise  woman  on  a  couch, 

That  she  may  spin  white  and  black  wool  into  a  double  cord, 

A  strong  cord,  a  mighty  cord,  a  twi-coloured  cord  on  a  spindle, 
A  cord  to  overcome  the  Ban  : 

Against  the  evil  course  of  human  Ban, 

Against  a  divine  curse, 

A  cord  to  overcome  the  Ban. 

He  hath  bound  it  on  the  head, 

On  the  hand  and  foot  of  this  man. 

Marduk,1  the  son  of  Eridu,  the  Prince, 

With  his  undefiled  hands  cutteth  it  off, 

That  the  Ban — its  cord — 

May  go  forth  to  the  desert,  to  a  clean  place, 

That  the  evil  Ban  may  stand  aside, 

And  this  man  may  be  clean  and  undefiled, 

Into  the  favouring  hands  of  his  god  may  he  be  commended.” 

Here  again  it  is  evident  that  the  disease  is  transferred 
by  the  power  of  the  magician’s  spell  to  the  twisted  thread, 
which  is  tied  on  the  patient’s  limbs  and  then  cut  off  and 
thrown  away.  If  a  man  have  a  headache  the  procedure  is 
exactly  similar ;  the  magician  is  to  go  out  into  the  desert  at 
sunset  and  find  a  certain  wild  plant,  possibly  a  kind  of 
•cucumber,  “  which  springs  up  by  itself,”  and  after  covering 
his  head  he  must  make  a  meal-circle  round  it.  Then  before 
the  sun  rises  the  plant  must  be  torn  up  by  the  roots  and 


1  On  the  power  of  Marduk  to  release  mankind  from  all  tabus  see 
p.  125. 


166 


TYING  KNOTS. 


tied  on  to  the  head  and  neck  of  the  sick  man  with  the  hair 
from  a  kid,  and  the  headache  will  go,  never  to  return, 
“  like  straw  which  the  wind  whirleth  away.” 1  Another 
ceremony  is  prescribed  elsewhere  for  the  same  complaint ; 
the  head  of  the  patient  must  be  bound  with  a  bundle  of 
twigs 2  with  magical  words,  and  at  eventide  this  is  to  be 
cut  off  and  thrown  into  the  street  “  that  the  sickness  of  his 
head  may  be  assuaged,  and  that  the  headache,  which  hath 
fallen  upon  the  man  like  the  dew,  may  be  removed.” 3 
By  tying  knots  and  at  the  same  time  chanting  some  magic 
words  a  wizard  or  witch  could  cast  a  tabu  on  an  enemy, 
as  is  clear  from  the  Maklu  tablet,  which  ends  one  incan¬ 
tation  against  such  malevolent  beings  with  these  words : — 

“  Her  knot  is  loosed,  her  sorcery  is  brought  to  nought, 

And  all  her  charms  fill  the  desert.”  4 

In  driving  away  a  headache  the  following  spell  was  used 
by  the  priest : — 

“  Take  the  hair  of  a  virgin  kid, 

Let  a  wise  woman  spin  it  on  the  right  side, 

And  double  it  on  the  left  ; 

Bind  twice  seven  knots 

And  perform  the  Incantation  of  Eridu, 

Bind  (therewith)  the  head  of  the  sick  man, 

Bind  (therewith)  the  neck  of  the  sick  man, 

Bind  (therewith)  his  life,5 
Bind  up  his  limbs  ; 

Go  round6  his  couch, 

Cast  the  water  of  the  Incantation  over  him, 

That  the  headache  may  ascend  to  heaven 


1  Devils ,  Tablet  IX,  1.  50,  of  the  series  “  Headache.” 

2  The  meaning  of  the  Assyrian  words  are  not  quite  certain. 

3  Devils ,  Tablet  ‘  P.5  4  TILL/.,  iv,  49,  34a. 

5  Or  ‘  soul.5  6  Or  ‘  stand  round.5 


PAEALLEL  EEOM  PEESIA. 


167 


Like  the  smoke  of  a  peaceful  homestead, 

And  like  the  lees  of  water  poured  out 
It  may  go  down  into  the  earth.55 1 

A  further  use  of  the  cord  in  headache  cures  is  found  in 
the  same  tablet.2  Unfortunately  the  beginning  is  lost,  but 
at  the  end  directions  are  given  for  spinning  a  threefold 
cord,3  and  tying  twice  seven  knots  in  it,  and  after  per¬ 
forming  the  Incantation  of  Eridu  this  is  to  be  tied  on  the 
head  of  the  sick  man.  The  headache  will  then  go. 

Another  incantation  for  the  sick  runs  : — 

“  Weave  thou  a  two-coloured  cord  from  the  hair  of  a  virgin  kid 
and  from  the  wool  of  a  virgin  lamb, 

Upon  the  limbs  of  the  king,  son  of  his  god,  bind  it  ; 

Then  shall  the  king,  the  son  of  his  god, 

Who  holdeth  the  life  of  the  land  like  the  Crescent  of  the 
Moon-god, 

Place  it  as  a  glory  on  his  head, 

Like  the  new  Crescent  of  the  Moon  .  .  .  /5  4 

The  change  from  the  more  usual  u  the  man,  son  of  his 

o 

god  ”  to  “  the  king,  son  of  his  god  ”  is  interesting. 

O’ Donovan  tells  the  story  of  a  similar  method  in  use  among 
the  modern  Persians  for  removing  fever.  A  woman  whose 
daughter  was  sick  of  a  fever  came  to  him  with  a  handful  of 
camel’s  hair  that  he  might  make  it  into  a  charm  for  her. 
He  himself,  being  ignorant  of  the  method  by  which  this 
should  be  done,  handed  it  over  to  a  Khan  who  was  with 
him.  “  By  means  of  a  spindle  the  camel’s  hair  was  spun 
to  a  stout  thread,  the  Khan  all  the  time  droning  some  verses 
from  the  Koran  or  some  necromantic  chant.  When  the 
thread  was  finished  it  was  of  considerable  length,  and 


1  Devils ,  ii,  Tablet  IX,  1.  74. 
3  Cf.  Eccles.  iv,  12. 


2  Ibid.,  1.  230. 

4  Devils ,  i,  Tablet  XVI,  1.  180. 


168 


PARALLELS  FROM  THE  ARABS. 


folding*  it  three  times  upon  itself  he  respun  it.  Then  he 
proceeded  to  tie  seven  knots  upon  the  string.  Before 
drawing  each  knot  hard  he  blew  upon  it.  This,  tied  in 
the  form  of  a  bracelet,  was  to  be  worn  on  the  wrist  of  the 
patient.  Each  day  one  of  the  knots  was  to  be  untied  and 
blown  upon,  and  when  the  seventh  knot  had  been  undone 
the  whole  of  the  thread  was  to  be  made  into  a  ball  and 
thrown  into  the  river,  carrying,  as  was  supposed,  the  illness 
with  it.”  1 

Among  the  Semites  other  than  Assyrian  the  same  ideas 
hold  good.  “In  the  Koran  there  is  an  allusion  to  the 
mischief  of  ‘ those  who  puff  into  knots/  and  an  Arab 
commentator  on  the  passage  explains  that  the  knots  refer 
to  women  who  practise  magic  by  tying  knots  in  cords,  and 
then  blowing  and  spitting  upon  them.  He  goes  on  to  relate 
how,  once  upon  a  time,  a  wicked  Jew  bewitched  the  prophet 
Mohammed  himself  by  tying  nine  knots  on  a  string,  which 
he  then  hid  in  a  well.  So  the  prophet  fell  ill,  and  nobody 
knows  what  might  have  happened  if  the  Archangel  Gabriel 
had  not  opportunely  revealed  to  the  holy  man  the  place 
where  the  knotted  cord  was  concealed.  The  trusty  Ali 
soon  fetched  the  baleful  thing  from  the  well ;  and  the 
prophet  recited  over  it  certain  charms,  which  were  specially 
revealed  to  him  for  the  purpose.  At  every  verse  of  the 
chai  ms  a  knot  untied  itself,  and  the  prophet  experienced 
a  certain  relief.”  2  A  charm  against  fever,  given  me  on 
the  mound  of  Kouyunjik  (Nineveh)  by  an  Arab  boy 


1  Merv  Oasis ,  ii,  319. 

-  1  razer,  Golden  Boughy  i,  397,  quoting  Professor  A.  A.  Bevan.  The 
two  suv at  of  the  Koran  which  concern  the  blowing  into  knots,  etc.,  are 
quoted  on  a  talismanic  plaque  brought  from  Egypt  (described  Reinaud, 
Monumens  Musulmanes  du  Due  de  Blacas,  ii,  325). 


TYING  KNOTS. 


169 


named  Sheklio,  who  was  by  way  of  having  a  reputation  as 
a  magician,  was  one  which  is  strikingly  similar  to  those 
quoted  above.  The  physician  who  is  called  in  to  cure 
a  patient  takes  a  thread  of  cotton,  single  and  not  plaited 
threefold,  and  ties  seven  knots  in  it,  putting  it  on  the 
patient’s  wrist.  After  seven  or  eight  days,  if  the  fever  still 
continue,  he  must  keep  it  on  ;  but  if  it  passes  he  may  throw 

it  awav.  He  must  then  make  bread  and  throw  it  to  the 

•/ 

dogs,  which  was  explained  to  me  as  a  kind  of  thank- 
offering,  but  the  root-idea  is  obviously  much  deeper  down.1 
Among  certain  of  the  modern  Jews,  in  the  case  of  hard 
labour  ensuing  during  confinement,  the  unmarried  girls  of 
the  house  should  unbraid  their  hair  and  let  it  loose  on  their 
shoulders;2  in  South  Russia,  in  making  a  shroud  they 
avoid  tying  knots.3 4  In  the  Sword  of  Moses*  in  order  to 
catch  a  lion  by  the  ear  “say  No.  91  and  make  seven  knots 
in  the  fringes  of  thy  girdle  and  repeat  these  words  into 
each  knot  and  you  will  catch  him.”  According  to  Hughes,5 
the  Order  of  the  Bakhtashiyah  (founded  by  a  native  of 
Bukhara)  use  a  mystic  girdle  as  their  symbol,  which  they 
put  off  and  on  seven  times,  saying — 

\ 

“  I  tie  up  greediness  and  unbind  generosity, 

I  tie  up  anger  and  unbind  meekness, 

I  tie  up  avarice  and  unbind  piety, 

I  tie  up  ignorance  and  unbind  the  fear  of  God, 

I  tie  up  passion  and  unbind  the  love  of  God, 

I  tie  up  hunger  and  unbind  (spiritual)  contentment, 

I  tie  up  Satanism  and  unbind  Divineness.” 

/ 

1  Folklore  of  Mossoul,  P.S.B.A.,  1906,  80. 

2  In  Kovno,  Rumania,  quoted  Jew.  Encycl. ,  xi,  600. 

3  Ibid.,  601.  On  the  whole  subject  of  knots  see  Frazer,  Golden 
Bough ,  i,  392. 

4  Ed.  Gaster,  41. 


5  Dictionary  of  Islam.,  118. 


170 


PARTICOLOURED  CORDS. 


Among  the  later  Hebrews  the  following  is  given  as  a  cure 
for  night  blindness.  Take  a  hair  rope,  and  bind  one  end  to 
the  patient’s  leg  and  the  other  to  a  dog’s,  and  then  let 
children  clatter  a  potsherd  after  him,  calling  out :  “  Old 
man  !  dog !  fool !  cock  !  ”  He  must  then  collect  seven 
pieces  of  meat  from  seven  houses,  and  set  them  at  the 
cross-bar  of  the  threshold,  and  then  eat  them  on  the  town- 
middens  ;  then  he  must  untie  the  rope  and  say  :  “  Blindness 
of  JNL,  son  of  H.,  leave  1ST.,  son  of  1ST.,  and  be  brushed  into  the 
pupil  of  the  e}^e  of  the  dog.” 1  Abramelin,  the  sage,2 
declares  that  in  Austria  he  found  an  infinitude  of  magicians 
who  only  occupied  themselves  in  killing  and  maiming  men, 
in  putting  discord  among  married  people,  in  causing 
divorces,  and  in  tying  witch-knots  in  osier  or  willow 
branches  to  stop  the  flow  of  milk  in  nursing  women. 

In  an  Assyrian  exorcism  for  ophthalmia  black  and  white 
threads  (or  hairs)  are  to  be  woven  together,  with  seven 
and  seven  knots  tied  therein,  and  during  the  knotting  an 
incantation  is  to  be  muttered ;  the  thread 3  of  black  hair 
is  then  to  be  fastened  to  the  sick  eye,  and  the  white  one 
to  the  sound  eye.4  The  tablet  S.  1301  (for  some  sickness  P) 
directs  that  a  black  Z:a-stone  be  tied  into  a  black  hair  or 
thread  with  seven  knots,  an  incantation  repeated  during 
the  process,  and  the  whole  bound  on  the  left  hand. 


1  Hershon,  Talmudic  Miscellany,  quoting  “  The  Fragment ”  of  W.  H. 
Lowe  ( Gittin ,  fol.  69,  col.  1). 

2  The  Book  of  Sacred  Magic  of  Abramelin,  the  Sage,  a  Hebrew  MS.  of 
1458,  ed.  Mathers,  20.  The  Talmud  ( Sabbath ,  xv)  gives  regulations  for 
the  tying  and  untying  of  knots  on  the  Sabbath.  Directions  for  loosing 
knots  are  given  in  the  >S'wqm^-series,  v-vi,  Zimmern,  35. 

Meaning  of  the  Assyrian  word  rather  uncertain. 

4  W.A.T.,  iv,  29*,  4,  c.  i,  15. 


PARTICOLOURED  CORDS. 


171 


Another  eye-charm,  for  amurrikanu  or  *  yellowness/  pre¬ 
scribes  binding  “pure  strands  of  red  wool1  which  have 
been  brought  by  the  pure  hand  of  .  .  .  ”  on  the  right 
hand.2  A  ritual  against  sickness  runs  thus  : — 

“  Bind  white  wool  doubled  in  spinning  on  his  bed,  front  and  sides, 
Bind  black  wool  doubled  in  spinning  on  him,  on  his  left  hand, 
That  there  may  enter  no  evil  spirit,  nor  evil  demon, 

Nor  evil  ghost,  nor  evil  devil,  nor  evil  god,  nor  evil  fiend, 

Nor  hag-demon,  nor  ghoul,  nor  robber-sprite, 

Nor  incubus,  nor  succuba,  nor  phantom-maid, 

Nor  sorcery,  nor  witchcraft,  nor  magic,  nor  calamity, 

Nor  spells  that  are  not  good — 

That  they  may  not  lay  their  head  to  his, 

Their  hand  to  his, 

Their  feet  to  his, 

That  they  may  not  draw  nigh.”  3 

Elsewhere  the  priest  is  directed  to  say  over  a  sick  man 
“  Ea  hath  sent  me  ”  three  times,  and  to  untie  a  knot  which 
has  been  tied  ;  then  the  sick  man  is  to  go  home  without 
looking  behind  him.4 

1  Sonny  {Arch.  /.  Rel .,  1906,  525)  in  his  article  Rote  Farbe  im  Toten- 
kulte  considers  the  use  of  red  to  be  in  imitation  of  blood.  See  also 
Yon  Duhn,  Rot  und  Tot ,  ibid.,  i. 

2  Haupt,  A.S.K.T. ,  11,  ii,  45. 

3  Ibid.,  55. 

4  King,  Babylonian  Magic  and  Sorcery ,  58,  99  ff.  It  is  curious  to 
see  how  this  prohibition  against  looking  backwards  recurs  in  ancient 
superstitions  (see  Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  iii,  104).  One  of  the  charms 
given  to  a  Mekkan  talisman-monger  was  handed  to  him  with  directions 
that  a  bit  of  paper,  inscribed  with  a  few  words  to  the  dead,  should  be 
borne  to  a  neighbouring  cemetery  and  buried  near  the  entrance,  the 
magician  having  to  bring  back  a  handful  of  the  sand.  “■  Be  careful, 
on  returning,  not  to  look  behind  you,  for  if  you  do  so  you  will  be  torn 
in  a  million  pieces  that  will  be  distributed  among  those  that  lie  there. 
Look  ahead,  and  your  life  will  be  safe.”  The  story  goes  that  he  buried 
the  paper  and  took  up  the  sand,  but  immediately  he  heard  thunder  and 
the  voices  of  the  dead  crying,  “  0  Abdullah-ben-Jafar,  take  not  the 


172 


TYING  KNOTS. 


The  primitive  Eastern  court  of  justice  is  described  in  the 
cuneiform  tablets  in  a  way  that  seems  to  bear  on  these 
knots — “  When  a  man  hath  an  enemy  that  bringeth  an 
accusation  against  him,  twisting  his  words,  or  uttering 
slanders,  01  backbiting,  without  making'  a  true  charge 
enmeshing  him  with  the  magic  of  unknown  evil  sorcery. 
If  god,  king,  lord,  prince,  and  officers  shall  rise  up  and 
in  the  gate  of  the  palace  they  are  opposed  to  him  and 
are  angry  with  him  for  the  accusation  (?)  ;  then  shall 
he  loose  the  evil  knot  which  he  hath  knotted,”  1  etc. 

A  parallel  to  this  tying  of  knots  is  the  binding  of  evil 
spirits,  or  even  the  tongue  2  or  other  members  of  human 


sand  away,  else  you  will  be  cut  in  bits.  Stop  !  Stop  !  Stop  ! 55  and  he 
shuddered  and  lost  consciousness  (Hadji  Khan,  With  the  Pilgrims  to 
Mecca,  278).  A  similar  idea  was  current  in  Mosul,  my  servant  Mejid 
telling  me  that  if  a  man  desired  a  charm  he  was  to  take  a  dead  hoopoe, 
with  a  piece  of  inscribed  paper  tied  to  it,  to  a  cemetery,  and  lay  it  near 
a  grave  at  night.  He  must  then  read  some  book,  while  the  demons 
gather  round,  without  turning  to  look  round.  If  he  should  look  round 
the  demons  will  have  power  to  attack  him  ( Folklore  of  Mossoul , 
P.b.B.A.,  1906,  79).  It  is  possibly  also  found  in  an  Assyrian  incan¬ 
tation  :  “  The  angry,  quaking  storm  [which  if  one]  seeth,  he  turnetli 
not,  nor  looketh  back  again  55  ( Devils ,  ii,  13). 

1  W.A.I.,  iv,  55,  2. 

2  There  is  a  Coptic  charm  which  shows  this  clearly— “  In  the  name 
of  God,  etc.  The  tying  of  the  tongue  of  (?)  Ghartb,  son  of  Sitt  el-Kull ; 
the  speaker  (?)  shall  not  be  able  to  speak.  The  tying  of  his  tongue  as 
against  Thijar,  daughter  of  my  lady  (?)  by  virtue  of  these  names  here. 
Amen.”  ( The  following  magical  signs  would  stand  for  the  ‘  names. ’) 
“  ^od’  who  ka,th  bound  the  heaven  and  bound  the  earth,  He  shall 
(or  may  He)  bind  the  mouth  and  the  tongue  of  Ghartb,  son  of  Sitt 
el-Kull,  that  he  be  not  able  to  move  his  lips  and  speak  an  evil  word 
against  Thy  .  .  .  (?),  the  (?Thy)  daughter,  the  (?  Thy)  servant  Thejir 
(sic),  to  her  (?)  in  the  presence  of  Ghartb,  son  of  Sitt  el-Kull.  God, 
who  hath  confined  the  sun  in  the  place  of  his  setting,  and  confined 
the  moon  and  confined  the  stars  and  confined  the  winds  in  the  midst 
of  heaven,  Lord  God,  do  Thou  confine  and  bind  the  mouth  and  the 


HOMCEOPATHY. 


173 


beings.  Many  instances  are  quoted  by  Frazer  ( Golden 
Bough,  i,  394),  the  most  useful  for  our  purpose  being  the 
belief  in  the  Middle  Ages  in  Europe  that  the  consummation 
of  marriage  could  be  prevented  by  anyone  who,  while  the 
wedding  ceremony  was  taking  place,  either  locked  a  lock 
or  tied  a  knot  in  a  cord,  and  then  threw  the  knot  or  the 
cord  away.  He  says  that  a  net,  from  its  affluence  of 
knots,  has  always  been  considered  in  Russia  very  efficacious 
against  sorcerers,  and  the  connection  of  the  Assyrian 
*  ban  ’  with  a  net  or  snare  is  in  keeping  with  this.1 
Amat-ka  saparra  sini  sa  ana  same  u  irsitim  tarsat  ( W.A.I. , 
iv,  26,  4,  44),  “  Thy  command  is  a  mighty  net  spread 
over  heaven  and  earth,”  addressed  probably  to  Marduk, 
shows  the  same  idea. 

Besides  wraxen  figures  and  knots,  there  are  endless  forms 
of  sympathetic  magic  which  bear  the  stamp  of  homoeopathy. 
In  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula  an  Arab  will  give  his  child 
burnt  scorpion  to  swallow,  in  the  belief  that  this  form  of 
sympathetic  prophylactic  will  render  him  invulnerable  to 
scorpion  poison.2  It  is  no  different  from  the  superstition 


tongue  of  Gh.,  son  of  S.,  that  lie  be  not  able  to  have  power  to  speak 
an  evil  word  against  Thijar,  daughter  of  my  lady  (?).  I  adjure  thee, 
I  conjure  (you  ?),  by  the  voice  which  went  up  from  the  cross,  until 
the  seven  broken  seals,  depart  from  him.  I  adjure  you,  I  conjure 
you,  that  ye  .  .  .  "  (Crum,  P.S.B.A.,  1902,  329). 

1  Devils ,  ii,  119. 

3  W.  E.  Jennings-Bramley,  P.E.F. ,  1906,  197.  Nothing  is  too 
abominable  to  be  drunk  or  eaten  in  magical  charms.  Burckhardt 
{Notes  on  the  Bedouins  and  Wahabis,  i,  262)  says  that  he  saw  an  Arab 
immediately  on  rising  in  the  morning  swallow  whole  draughts  of  camel’s 
urine  because  a  physician  (i.e.  a  barber)  of  Mekka  had  advised  him  to 
do  so  as  a  certain  remedy  for  oppression  in  the  breast.  Another,  in  the 
last  stages  of  consumption,  was  directed  to  eat  nothing  but  the  raw  liver- 
of  a  male  camel  for  a  fortnight. 


174 


SUMMARY. 


in  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  that  fields  sown  with  seed 

can  be  protected  from  mice  by  scattering  the  ashes  of  cats 

upon  them,1  or  that  the  head  of  a  dog  burnt  and  reduced 

to  ashes,  and  kneaded  with  vinegar,  should  be  used  by  the 

Arabs  for  hydrophobia.2  Talmudic  medicine  recommends 

the  reticulation  between  the  lobes  of  the  liver  of  the  doo* 

o 

for  such  a  malady.3  It  is  the  old  story  of  the  “  hair  of 
the  dog  that  bit  one.”  Two  reasons  are  given  in  this 
tractate  for  rabies ;  one  is  that  an  evil  spirit  passes  into 
the  beast,  the  other  is  that  a  neophyte  learning  to  become 
a  witch  first  practises  her  enchantments  on  dogs.4 

We  need  not,  however,  go  further  into  the  subject  here. 
Enough  has  been  said  to  show  the  principles  of  transmission 
by  which  the  sorcerer  expels  the  demon  from  his  patient 
into  some  body  which  will  give  him  control  over  it.  For 
our  purpose,  such  magic  is  principally  important  because  of 
the  bearing  it  has  on  one  side  of  the  atonement  ceremonies. 


1  Blau,  Das  Altjiid.  Zauberw 35. 

2  Ibn  Zohr,  quoted  by  Camussi,  Z.A.',  xi,  1888,  384.  Dr.  Leclerc 

adds  that  the  canine  tooth  carried  on  the  person  is  useful  against 
hydrophobia.  , 

3  Toma,  viii,  5. 

4  Ibid.,  6. 


THE  ATONEMENT  SACRIFICE. 


From  the  preceding  chapters  it  will  have  been  seen  that 
tabus  which  are  other  than  ‘  holy  ’  in  their  origin 
are  due  to  demoniac  possession  or  obsession ;  that  the 
operations  of  spirits  and  the  technical  ‘  uncleanness  ’  of 
the  tribesman  are  all  inseparably  connected ;  and  that  it 
is  the  priest-sorcerer’s  part  to  remove  these,  and  render  the 
tribesman  capable  of  taking  his  part  again  in  the  social 
life  of  his  clan.  From  the  illustrations  of  sympathetic 
magic  in  general,  it  is  clear  that  the  magician  reckons 
among  his  most  excellent  treatments  the  transference  of 
devils  from  such  as  are  obsessed ;  in  point  of  fact,  from 
all  sick  people  wdiose  trouble  is  due  to  the  initiative  of 
some  spirit.  The  next  step  is  to  employ  these  deductions 
in  the  elucidation  of  the  Biblical  system  of  Atonements 
which  plays  such  a  part  in  the  Jewish  religion. 

The  word  used  in  Hebrew  for  performing  the  Atone¬ 
ment  ceremony  is  H&p  kipper ,  the  corresponding  Syriac 
root  meaning  ‘  to  wash  away.’ 1  The  word  in  Arabic 

i  See  Robertson  Smith  {0.  T.J.  a,  38 1 ).  Cf.  Koberle,  Siinde  und  Gnade 
imrel.  leben,  1905,  18,  “  naeh  Zimmern  .  .  .  soviel  wie  ‘wegwischen,’ 
und  ahnliche  Ausdrucke  mehr.”  He  quotes  also  Schmoller,  St.  Kr .,  1891, 
205,  on  this  subject.  On  his  views  on  sin  as  sickness  see  ibid.,  20  ; 
on  the  ‘ kappara’  (whatever  language  this  may  be)  see  ibid.,  317.  For 
explanations  of  the  rite  of  ‘atonement’  the  following  are  noteworthy : 

“Dieser  Suhnritus  bedeutet  keine  Yerbiindung  zwischen  Gott  und 
Mennschen  im  naiven  Verstande  des  Alterthums,  als  Veranstaltung 
des  gottlichen  Willens  bedeutet  er  ein  Mysterium.  Man  empfand  den 
Schauer  des  Unverstandlichen,  wenn  hier  im  Elute  des  Sundopfers  die 
Beziekung  zwischen  Gott  und  A  oik  neu  geknupft  wurde.  Abei  w  ie 
mit  dem  Siindopfer  des  Versohnungstages,  so  steht  es  mit  jedem 
Sundopfer  und  uberhaupt  dem  gesammten  Opferdienst.  Eine  pracise 


176 


KIPPER  AND  KVPPJJRTJ. 


for  an  ‘  atonement  ’  of  this  kind  is  kaffarah 9l  or  more 

Antwort  auf  die  Frage,  wie  denn  der  Opferdienst  auf  Gott  entwirke, 
wusste  man  schwerlich  zu  geben.  Deutlich  ist  nur,  dass  der  Gedanke 
der  Communion  mit  der  Gottheit  im  alten  Sinne  fur  die  Juden  unmoglich 
geworden  war.55 — Smend,  Lehrb.  cl.  Altt.  Rel .,  1893,  323. 

“Auch  Kiehm  (Begriff  der  Siihne,  S.  63  ff.)  hat  sich  gegen  die 
Satisfactionstheorie  erklart,  hat  aber  doch  das  Siindopferthier  als 
Gegenstand  des  austilgenden  Gottesfluches  ansehen  wollen  :  es  werde 
durch  den  austilgenden  Eifer  Gottes  vernichtet,  tlieils  durch  das  Essen, 
wozu  die  Priester  yerpflichtet  sind,  theils  durch  das  Yerbrennen  ausser- 
halb  des  Lagers.  Riehm  beruft  sich  namentlich  darauf,  dass  das 
S UndOpf erflei sch  etwas  Grauenerregendes  sei,  und  nur  dann  konne 
der  Sunder  sich  der  Wiederherstellung  seines  Verhaltnisses  zu  seinem 
Gott  in  y oiler  Beruhigung  freuen,  wenn  die  Gefahr,  damit  in  Beriihrung 
zu  kommen,  beseitigt  sei.  Aber  wenn  dem  so  ware,  warum  die  For- 
derung,  dass  das  Thier  an  reiner  Stelle  ausserhalb  des  Lagers  verbrannt 
werden  solle,  wie  konnte  auch  die  Minha,  als  Stindopfer  der  Armen, 
dem  Priester  in  derselben  Weise  zufallen  wie  jedes  andere  Speisopfer  ? 
Yielmehr  als  Hochheiliges  gefahrdet  das  Siindopferfleisch  die  Menschen, 
darum  muss  es  fortgeschafft  werden,  entweder  durch  das  Essen  der 
Priester  oder  wenn  dieser  selbst  an  der  zu  erlangenden  Siihne  betlieiligt 
ist  durch  die  Yerbrennung  ausserhalb  des  Lagers.  Ware  diese  Yer- 
brennung  nocli  integrirender  Bestandtheil  der  Opferhandlung,  so  wiirde 
sie  gewiss  am  Heiligtlnim  vollsogen  werden.55 — Nowack,  Lehrbuch  der 
Hebr.  Arch.,  1894,  ii,  233. 

Moore,  Encycl.  Bibl.,  4219,  says  of  uncleanness :  “Whereas  originally  it 
was  a  physical  thing  whose  evil  was  in  itself,  it  becomes  in  the  national 
religion  a  pollution  offensive  to  Yahwk  ;  it  is  incompatible  with  his 
holiness  and  the  holiness  which  he  demands  of  all  that  approach  him  ; 
its  consequences  are  not  only  natural  but  penal  ;  it  requires  to  be  not 
merely  purged  but  expiated.  LTncleanness  is  in  this  light  a  moral  wrong 
and  involves  guilt.  On  the  other  hand,  a  not  inconsiderable  class  of 
what  we  regard  as  moral  offences  were  included  in  the  category  of 
taboos  requiring  purifications.  We  have  difficulty  in  realising  that 
guilt  was  believed  to  have  the  same  physically  contagious  quality  as 
uncleanness — one  man  who  had  touched  herein  (Din)  could  infect  and 
bring  defeat  upon  a  whole  army  (Josh.  vii).  Almost  equally  strange  to 
us  is  the  notion  that  guilt,  like  uncleanness,  can  be  contracted  without 
knowledge  and  intention  ;  and  that  the  first  intimation  a  man  may  have 
that  he  has  offended  God  is  that  he  suffers  the  consequences  ( dsam ),  with 
its  converse,  that  misfortune  is  the  evidence  that  he  has  offended  without 
knowing  how.”  See  also  Knobel,  Leviticus ,  ed.  Dillmann,  1880,  417. 

1  This  occurs  four  times  in  the  Koran  (Hughes,  Diet,  of  Islam  259). 


KIPPER  AND  KUPPURU. 


177 


commonly  fidyah  (fedu),  and  according  to  Curtiss,1  who 
quotes  one  Derwish  Hatib  of  Der  Atiyeh,  in  the  Syrian 
Desert,  a  lecturer  who  leads  the  mosque- service  in  that 
village,  “  Fedou  means  that  it  redeems  the  other,  in  place 
of  the  other,  substitute  for  the  other.  Something  is  going 
to  happen  to  a  man,  and  the  sacrifice  is  a  substitute  for 
him.  It  prevents  disease,  sufferings,  robbery,  and  enmity 
.  .  .  Both  repentance  and  the  fedou  cover.”  From  a 
passage  quoted  above  on  p.  84,  the  use  of  the  word 
f  atonement ’  will  have  suggested  that  the  Assyrians  were 
in  the  habit  of  performing  some  ceremony  akin  to  that 
of  the  Hebrews.  The  most  striking  coincidence  is,  first, 
the  parallel  use  of  the  word  kuppuru  in  Assyrian  with 
the  Hebrew  kipper.  In  the  Old  Testament  kipper  is 
undoubtedly  an  old  word,  although  in  the  distinctively 
priestly  phraseology  (Ezekiel  and  ‘  P  ’)  it  becomes  more 
technical  than  in  its  other  occurrences.  Its  subject  is 
then  the  priest  or  sometimes  the  offering.2  In  the  cunei¬ 
form  texts  the  word  kuppuru  is  found  in  the  incantations 
against  disease,  with  a  noun  takpirtu  from  the  same  root. 
For  instance,  this  latter  word  occurs  in  a  cuneiform 
ceremony,  thus : — 

“  [Cast]  his  takpirtu  to  the  crossways, 

Leave  his  puliu  to  the  kurpi  (ash-heaps  ?)  of  the  land.”  3 

1  Prim.  Sem.  Rel.,  195. 

2  Driver,  Deuteronomy,  426,  and  also  Robertson  Smith,  0.  T.  in  Jewish 
Church,  381.  G.  F.  Moore  ( Encycl .  Bibl.,  4220)  says  that  this  word 
“is  not  so  common  in  old  toroth  as  might  be  expected.  It  occurs  with 
especial  frequency  in  the  old  laws  for  trespass  offering.” 

3  Devils ,  ii,  3,  Asakku  Series,  Tablet  III,  1.  5  ff.  On  takpirati  and 
the  comparison  of  “l&J  ( kipper )  with  it,  see  Martin,  Textes  Religieux , 
1903,  xxii.  From  the  parallelism  of  S.  747,  r.  4  (Craig,  Religious  Texts , 
ii,  4),  “May  Ea pulcaa  saukinnu  .  .  .  my  puhu  which  he  hath  prepared 

N 


178 


ASSYRIAN  AND  ARAB  ATONEMENTS. 


Now  these  Assyrian  incantations,  which  may  have  had 
their  origin  among  the  Sumerians,  are  undoubtedly  older 
than  the  Priestly  Code  in  its  present  form,  and  the  actual 
evidence  of  the  tablets  themselves  from  Assurbanipal’s 
Library  show  that  such  ceremonies  existed  in  Assyria  at 
least  as  early  as  626  b.c.  Hence  it  is  certain  that  the 
Babylonians  did  not  borrow  the  idea  of  the  ‘  atonement  ’ 
ceremony  from  the  Hebrews  during  the  Captivity.  On 
the  other  hand,  taking  into  account  that  scapegoats  and 
other  forms  of  ‘  atonements  ’  are  common  all  over  the 
world,  it  is  unlikely  that  the  Hebrews  borrowed  much  of 
this  form  of  exorcism  in  Babylon,  although  perhaps  they 
may  have  somewhat  modified  their  views  in  accordance 
with  the  beliefs  of  their  captors.  The  most  reasonable 
explanation,  especially  when  the  Arab  fedn  or  kaffarcih 
ceremonies  are  taken  into  account,  is  that  all  the  Semites 
drew  these  beliefs  from  their  common  ancestry,  and 
retained  the  primitive  nomenclature  (Ji-p-r)  which  shows 
how  extremely  ancient  the  custom  must  be.  To  remove 
an  unclean  tabu  from  a  person  by  means  of  a  substituted 
4  atonement  *  animal  is  obviously  a  form  of  sympathetic 
magic,  and  as  such  the  ceremony  will  easily  be  recognized 
as  very  primitive. 

(accept  ?),  may  Marduk  dinanua  sa  ibbanu  lisamgir  (?)  make  acceptable 
my  dinanu  which  hath  been  made.”  The  lines  preceding  these  refer  to 
the  mamit  or  ‘  ban 5  which  the  man  has  incurred.  From  Tablet  N 
{Devils,  ii),  iii,  45,  46  {urisu  dinanu  sa  ameluti ,  “  the  kid  is  the  dinanu 
for  mankind  ”)  it  is  evident  that  dinanu  has  the  significance  of 
‘  substitute,’  and  if  so,  its  parallel  puhu  will  have  a  similar  meaning, 
which  will  fit  in  with  our  context.  Hence  this  translation  may  be 
offered  provisionally  : — 

“  [Cast]  his  ‘  atonement  ’  to  the  crossways, 

Leave  his  ‘substitute’  to  the  ash-heaps  (?)  of  the  land.” 


DEMONS  ENTICED  OUT  OF  THE  SICK  MAN. 


179 


Robertson  Smith  maintains  that  in  the  Hebrew  ideas 
“all  atoning  rites  are  ultimately  to  be  regarded  as  owing 
their  efficacy  to  a  communication  of  divine  life  to  the 
worshippers,  and  to  the  establishment  or  confirmation  of 
a  living  bond  between  them  and  their  god,” 1  and  that 
“  the  conception  of  piacular  rites  as  a  satisfaction  for  sin 
appears  to  have  arisen  after  the  original  sense  of  the 
theanthropic  sacrifice  for  a  kindred  animal  was  forgotten, 
and  mainly  in  connection  with  the  view  that  the  life  of 
the  victim  was  the  equivalent  of  the  life  of  a  human 
member  of  the  religious  community.”  2 


1  Religion  of  the  Semites ,  439. 

2  Ibid.,  416.  He  points  out  here  that  “in  the  older  literature,  when 

exceptional  and  piacular  rites  are  interpreted  as  satisfactions  for  sin, 
the  oflence  is  always  a  definite  one,  and  the  piacular  rite  has  not  a  stated 
and  periodical  character,  but  is  directly  addressed  to  the  atonement  of 
a  particular  sin  or  course  of  sinful  life,”  and  “  in  the  Levitical  ritual 
all  piacula,  both  public  and  private,  refer  only  to  sins  committed  un¬ 
wittingly”  (p.  423).  For  later  views  on  the  see  Koberle,  op.  cit.,  81. 

The  recent  views  on  Babylonian  sacrifices  given  in  the  Encyclopaedia 
Biblica  (4120)  are  those  of  Jeremias,  who  says  : — “Here,  of  course,  we 
must  divest  ourselves  of  all  theological  preconcej^tions,  and  put  aside 
all  such  notions  as  that  of  an  atoning  efficacy  attaching  to  the  blood 
as  the  seat  of  life,  or  of  a  divine  wrath  that  expends  itself  upon  the 
sacrificial  animal,  or  even  of  a  ratio  vicaria,  when  we  speak  of  the  idea 
of  propitiation  as  underlying  Babylonian  sacrifices.  ...  At  the  same 
time  it  is  significant  and  by  no  means  accidental — it  has  its  roots  firmly 
planted  in  the  very  nature  of  the  religious  ideas  involved — that  every¬ 
thing  offered  with  the  object  of  averting  evil  of  any  kind  whatsoever 
was  associated  with  the  notions  of  a  propitiatory,  cleansing,  purifying 
efficacy.”  Further  on  (4125)  he  says,  “  Singular  to  say,  however,  that 
(the  Babylonian  cultus)  shows  not  the  faintest  trace  of  dsam,  hattdth  ; 
we  may  assume  that  the  sin  and  the  trespass  offering  of  the  Hebrew 
Torah,  although  all  that  we  know  of  their  technique  is  wholly  of 
post-exilic  date,  were  entirely  of  Israelite  growth.”  I  do  not  think, 
however,  that  this  second  statement  can  be  upheld  for  a  moment  ; 
and  the  language  of  the  former  is  so  involved  and  peculiar  that  it  is 
difficult  to  see  how  far  the  author  has  grasped  his  subject. 


180  DEMONS  ENTICED  OUT  OF  THE  SICK  MAN. 

It  is  with  the  very  greatest  diffidence  that  I  think,  in 
view  of  the  evidence  which  Assyriology  brings  forward, 
that  this  explanation  cannot  altogether  be  upheld.  That 
the  life  of  the  victim  was  held  to  be  the  equivalent  of 
a  human  member  of  the  tribe  would  certainly  appear  to 
be  true;  but  I  cannot  believe  that  there  is  any  idea  of 
communication  of  divine  life  or  confirmation  of  a  bond 
with  the  god.  The  trend  of  evidence  seems  to  me  to 
point  to  a  primitive  system  of  providing  a  substitute- 
victim1  for  the  devil  whose  connection  with  the  man  has 
brought  down  a  tabu.  In  every  exorcism  of  demons,  it 
is  necessary  to  have  some  object  into  which  the  spirit 
may  be  attracted  or  driven,  in  point  of  fact  a  Leyden 
jar  in  which  the  malign  influence  may  be  isolated  under 
control.  It  is  all  the  same  whether  it  is  the  devils  who 
must  be  sent  into  the  Gadarene  swine,  or  the  jinni 
corked  up  in  the  brass  bottle  by  Solomon.  They  are  safe 
so  long  as  they  can  be  enticed  or  forced  by  magic  words 
into  something  which  the  magician  can  ultimately  destroy 
or  guard  religiously.  He  may  then  either  burn  it  in 
clean  places  where  no  spirit  comrades  can  lend  their  aid, 
or  cast  it  into  the  deep  sea  so  that  no  meddlers  can  by 
chance  free  the  evil  demon.  This  point  is  emphasized  by 
the  study  of  the  Assyrian  exorcisms;  that  the  disease 
demon  must  be  gently  or  forcibly  persuaded  to  leave  the 
human  body  to  enter  the  dead  animal  or  wax  figure 
which  is  placed  near,  and  so  be  brought  into  subjection. 

1  We  are  not  now  discussing  the  primitive  redemption  of  the  first¬ 
born.  This  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  trespass  offering  or  similar 
atonements,  and  the  two  owe  their  origin  to  two  distinct  and 
separate  practices.  We  shall  return  to  the  redemption  of  the  first¬ 
born  later  on. 


ASSYRIAN  AND  HEBREW  ATONEMENTS. 


181 


Koberle  realizes  the  idea  of  the  removal  of  sin  by 
cleansing- ‘  atonements  ’  and  exorcisms  among  the  Baby¬ 
lonians,  but  he  does  not  apply  it  to  the  Hebrew  procedure. 
Apparently  it  is  the  blood-sprinkling  which  is  his  obstacle 
to  any  comparison  between  the  two.1  But  it  is  hardly 
likely  that  the  two  are  of  different  origin. 

1  “  Aber  mag  es  sich  damit  verhalten,  wie  es  will,  olme  Zweifel  ist 
die  kultische  Siihne  in  Babylonien  bekannt.  Sie  hat  dort  nirgends 
den  Zweck,  den  Menschen  vor  der  Gottlieit  zu  schiitzen,  vielmehr  ist 
sie  ein  Reinigungs — ,  Heilungs  —  und  Exorcismus-Akt.  Doch  weist 
die  Eigenart  der  hebraisehen  Siihneriten  eher  auf  die  primitiven  ur- 
semitischen  Opferformen  hin,  wonacli  die  Siihne  durch  Blutbestreichung 
(an  Stelle  des  Blutgenusses)  die  gelockerte  Gemeinschaft  zwischen  Gott 
und  Mensch  wiederherstelt  ”  (Siinde  und  Gnade  im  rel.  leben  des  Volkes 
Israel ,  1905,  318). 

“  Die  unreinen  Zustande  gelten  nun  einmal  als  Dinge,  welche  Gottes 
Heiligkeit  verletzen  und  ihm  missfallig  sind.  Sie  sind  im  Sinne 
des  priesterlichen  Gesetzgebers  nicht  Modifikationen  menschlicher 
Schwache,  sondern  eher  noch  Modifikationen  menschlicher  und  kreatiir- 
licher  Yerderbnis  .  .  .  ;  wenn  auch  nicht  so  deutlich  wie  sonst  diese 
Korruption  als  Folge  der  Siinde  hingestellt  wird  ”  (ibid.,  319). 

“  Siindig  wird  man  durch  Beriihrung  Genuss  u.  s.  w.  von  Dingen, 
die  tabu  sind  ;  wir  selien  hier  hinein  in  die  primitivsten  Formen  der 
religiosen  Beurteilung  der  Siinde  ;  daneben  finden  wir  auch  den  mehr 
sittlichen  Masstab,  wenn  die  Siinde  als  Emporung  wider  die  Gottlieit, 
als  Abweichung  vom  rechten  Weg,  als  Ubertretung  gottlicher  Gebote 
gefasst  wird  ”  (ibid.,  20).  Compare  also  Dillmann’s  edition  of  Knobel’s 
Leviticus ,  1880,  381,  “War  namlich  der  Zweck  entweder  die  Suhnung 
einer  bestimmten  Siinde  oder  die  Entsiindigung  uberhaupt,  so  hatte 
das  Siindopfer  einzutreten,  bestehend  in  einem  mannlichen  oder  weib- 
lichen  Yierfussler  (verschieden  je  nach  der  Personen  des  Darbringers), 
meist  aus  dem  Ziegenvich,  ersatzweise  in  einer  Taube  (und  nur  im 
Notlifall  in  etwas  Mehl)  ;  die  Hauptsache  dabei  war  die  Suhnung 
durch  das  Blut.”  Jastrow,  in  the  German  edition  of  his  Religion  of  the 
Babylonians ,  xvi,  325,  says  :  “  Man  rechnete  mit  der  Moglichkeit  dass 
die  Angriffe  der  Damonen  eine  Strafe  fur  irgend  welche  begangenen 
Siinden  sein  konnten.  Auch  hierfur  bietet  die  Schurpu-Serie  ein 

beachtens  wertes  Beispiel.  Die  zweite  Tafel  enthalt  namlich  eine  lange 

•  • 

Liste  von  Ubeltaten  um  derentwillen  jemand  in  die  Gewalt  der 
Damonen  oder  Zauberer  geraten  konnte.” 


182 


ATONEMENTS  AND  SIN-OFFERINGS. 


If,  then,  we  look  into  the  specific  cases  for  which  the 
atonement,  sin,  and  trespass  offerings  are  prescribed  in 
the  Old  Testament,  it  will  be  seen  that  they  fall  into  five 
classes  : — 

(1)  The  Periodic.  The  Feasts  (Passover,  Pentecost,  and  Tabernacles), 

the  Day  of  Atonement,  and  the  scapegoat  (Lev.  xvi,  xxiii  ; 
Num.  xxviii,  xxix).  Cf.  Ezek.  xlv,  18  ff.,1  and  the  more  vague 
Exod.  xxx,  10,  and  the  ‘  atonement 5  money  of  15. 

(2)  The  Individual. 

(a)  ‘  Leprosy,5  and  the  house  in  which  ‘  leprosy 5  breaks 
out  (Lev.  xiii-xiv). 

(■ b )  Touching  anything  unclean  (Lev.  v,  2  ;  Num.  xix,  17  ff.), 
a  Nazarite  touching  a  dead  body  (Num.  vi,  9  ff.),  a  woman 
after  childbirth  (Lev.  xii,  2  ff.),  a  man  or  woman  with  an 
abnormal  issue  (Lev.  xv,  2  ff.). 

(c)  Transgressing  against  the  holy  things  or  command¬ 
ments  of  Yahweh  unwittingly  (Lev.  v,  15-17  ;  xxii,  14), 
unwitting  sin  (Lev.  iv,  1  ff,  27  ff  ;  v,  17  ;  Num.  xv,  27). 

(d)  Oaths  (Lev.  v,  1,  4). 

(e)  Lying,  deception,  robbery,  etc.,  or  finding  lost  things 
and  lying  about  them  (Lev.  vi),  or  any  sin  (Num.  v,  6). 

( / )  Having  intercourse  with  bondmaid  promised  to  another 
(Lev.  xix,  20  ff). 

(3)  The  Royal:  ‘unwitting5  sin  of  the  ruler  (Lev.  iv,  22  ff). 

(4)  The  Priestly :  initiation  to  ‘  consecrate 5  or  ‘  cleanse 5  them 

(Exod.  xxix,  1  ff  ;  Lev.  viii,  1  ff.  ;  xvi,  5,  6  ;  Num.  viii,  6)'. 
Cf.  Lev.  iv,  3.  As  a  corollary  to  these  come  the  ordinances 
of  Ezek.  xliii,  18  ff.  Cf.  also  the  Nazarite,  Num.  vi,  13  ff. 

(5)  The  Tribal:  ‘unwitting5  sin  (Lev.  iv,  13  ff.  ;  Num.  xv,  24). 

A  plague  is  removed  from  the  tribe  (Num.  xvi,  46  ff). 
Cf.  Lev.  ix. 

There  are  also  the  vague  ‘  atonements  ’  of  Lev.  i,  which 
have  possibly  arisen  from  a  confusion  with  the  ordinary 
sacrifice. 

1  On  Ezekiel  and  the  ‘  holy  5  laws  see  Klostermann,  Per  Pentateuch , 
1893,  368  ff. 


SUGGESTED  ORIGIN  OF  PIACULA. 


183 


Starting  with  the  hypothesis  that  piacular  offerings  had 
their  origin  in  the  custom  of  providing  a  substitute  to  absorb 
the  evil  action  of  supernatural  agency ,  we  shall  take  each 
case  separately  and  see  how  far  it  stands  the  test  of  com¬ 
parison  with  similar  superstitions  among  savages. 

Take  first  that  case  of  Periodic  Atonement  which  is  the 
most  prominent  instance  in  Hebrew  folklore,  that  of  the 
scapegoat.1  Two  goats  are  to  be  taken,  and  one  of  them 


1  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  giving  the  salient  instances  in  resume 
which  have  been  collected  by  Dr.  Frazer  in  his  Golden  Bough  (iii,  14). 
A  Malagasy  was  informed  by  a  diviner  that  he  was  doomed  to  a  bloody 
death,  but  that  possibly  he  might  avert  his  fate  by  performing  a  certain 
rite.  Carrying  a  small  vessel  full  of  blood  upon  his  head,  he  was  to 
mount  upon  the  back  of  a  bullock  ;  while  thus  mounted,  he  was  to  spill 
the  blood  upon  the  bullock’s  head,  and  then  send  the  animal  away 
into  the  wilderness,  whence  it  might  never  return  (Ellis).  The  Battas 
of  Sumatra  have  a  ceremony  which  they  call  “  making  the  curse  to  fly 
away.”  When  a  woman  is  childless,  a  sacrifice  is  offered  to  the  gods 
of  three  grasshoppers,  representing  a  head  of  cattle,  a  buffalo,  and 
a  horse.  Then  a  swallow  is  set  free  with  the  prayer  that  the  curse 
may  fall  upon  the  bird  and  fly  away  with  it  (Kodding).  Among  the 
Majhwar,  a  Dravidian  race  of  South  Mirzapur,  if  a  man  has  died  of 
a  contagious  disease,  such  as  cholera,  the  village  priest  walks  in  front 
of  the  funeral  procession  with  a  chicken  in  his  hands,  which  he  lets 
loose  in  the  direction  of  some  other  village  as  a  scapegoat  to  carry  the 
infection  away  (Crooke).  Amongst  the  Burghers  or  Badagas  of  the 
Neilgherry  Hills  in  Southern  India,  when  a  death  has  taken  place, 
the  sins  of  the  deceased  are  laid  upon  a  buffalo  calf.  A  set  form  of 
confession  of  sins,  the  same  for  everyone,  is  recited  aloud,  then  the  calf 
is  set  free,  and  is  never  afterwards  used  for  common  purposes.  “  The 
idea  of  this  ceremony  is  that  the  sins  of  the  deceased  enter  the  calf 
or  that  the  task  of  his  absolution  is  laid  on  it.  They  say  that  the  calf 
very  soon  disappears,  and  that  it  is  never  after  heard  of  ”  (Harkness). 

He  gives  the  following  examples  also.  Chickens  daubed  with 
vermilion,  goats,  or  even  pigs  as  a  last  resource,  are  driven  away 
from  cholera-swept  villages  in  Central  India,  in  the  hope  that  the 
disease  may  depart  ( Panjab  Notes  and  Queries ,  i,  48,  §  418  ;  Frazer, 
Golden  Bough ,  iii,  101).  In  1886,  during  the  smallpox,  the  people  of 
Jeypur  made  puja  to  a  goat,  marched  it  to  the  Ghats,  and  let  it  loose 


184 


SAVAGfE  CUSTOMS  IN  ATONEMENT. 


sacrificed  as  a  sin-offering,  and  the  other  sent  away  into 
the  wilderness  for  ‘  Azazel  ’  to  bear  all  the  iniquities  of 
the  people  into  a  solitary  land.1  Frazer  has  shown  how 

on  the  plains  (Fawcett,  J.A.S.,  Bombay,  i,  213  ;  Frazer,  Golden  Bough , 
iii,  102).  In  the  case  of  the  Aymara  Indians  of  Bolivia  and  Peru, 
the  scapegoat  was  a  llama  (Forbes,  J.E.S.,  London,  ii,  237  ;  Frazer, 
Golden  Bough ,  iii,  104). 

The  periodic  expulsion  of  evils  is  gone  into  at  great  length  by  Frazer, 
iii,  70  ff.,  who  instances — (1)  The  Esquimaux  of  Alaska,  who  choose  the 
moment  of  the  sun’s  reappearance  to  hunt  the  mischievous  spirit  Tuna 
from  every  house.  (2)  The  Iroquois  inaugurated  the  new  year  in 
January,  February,  or  March,  and  on  one  day  the  ceremony  of  driving 
away  the  evil  spirits  from  the  village  took  place.  (3)  In  September  the 
Incas  of  Peru  celebrated  a  festival  called  Situa,  the  object  of  which  was 
to  banish  from  the  capital  and  its  vicinity  all  disease  and  trouble. 
(4)  The  negroes  of  Guinea  annually  banish  the  devil  from  all  the  towns 
with  much  ceremony.  (5)  Among  the  Hos  of  North-Eastern  India, 
the  great  festival  of  the  year  is  held  in  January.  An  evil  spirit  is  at 
this  time  supposed  to  infest  the  place,  and  has  to  be  driven  out  by 
processions  shouting.  (6)  In  Bali,  to  the  east  of  Java,  the  people 
have  periodic  expulsions,  generally  on  the  day  of  the  ‘  dark  moon  ’  in 
the  ninth  month.  (7)  The  Slians  of  Southern  China  annually  expel  the 
fire-spirit.  (8)  On  the  last  night  of  the  year  there  is  observed  in  most 
Japanese  houses  a  ceremony  called  “  the  exorcism  of  the  evil  spirit.” 
(9)  In  Tonquin  a  general  expulsion  of  malevolent  spirits  commonly 
took  place  once  a  year.  (10)  In  Cambodia  it  takes  place  in  March. 
(11)  Among  the  heathen  Wotyaks  of  East  Russia  on  the  last  day  of  the 
year,  or  New  Year’s  Bay.  He  quotes  many  other  instances. 

He  goes  on  further  to  discuss  scapegoats,  and  compares — (1)  the 
embodied  devils,  i.e.  men  dressed  as  devils  chased  to  the  mountains, 
among  the  Pomos  of  California  ;  and  (2)  the  Mandan  Indians  who  chased 
a  man  painted  to  represent  the  devil  at  their  annual  festival. 

1  Lev.  xvi.  According  to  the  Mishna,  the  Hebrew  scapegoat  was  not 
allowed  to  go  free  in  the  wilderness,  but  was  killed  by  being  pushed 
over  a  precipice  ( Toma,  vi,  6  ;  De  Dea  Syria ,  lviii,  quoted  by  Robertson 
Smith,  Rel.  Sem .,  418).  The  common  people  in  hastening  the  departure 
of  the  scapegoat  used  to  pull  pieces  of  its  hair  to  accelerate  its  pace 
( Toma ,  vi,  4).  On  the  Day  of  Atonement  it  is  forbidden  to  eat,  drink, 
wash,  perfume,  put  on  shoes,  or  cohabit  with  a  woman  ( Berakhoth ,  iii,  4). 
Note  that  pre-exilic  worship  knows  no  such  day  as  is  described  in 
Lev.  xvi  ( Encycl .  Bibl .,  384). 


SAVAGE  CUSTOMS  IN  ATONEMENT. 


185 


this  yearly  atonement  is  a  regular  custom  among  many 
savage  tribes,  and  this  is  ample  proof  that  it  was  not 
peculiar  to  the  Hebrews  through  some  special  revelation. 
Hitherto,  however,  this  annual  scapegoat  has  not  been 
met  with  in  the  cuneiform  inscriptions,  as  far  as  I  know, 
but  such  negative  evidence  is  naturally  valueless  to  prove 
that  the  custom  did  not  exist  in  Assyria.1 

The  second  class  contains  the  remarkable  rites  in  this 
Hebrew  atonement  system  for  cleansing  the  ‘  leper 5  or 
the  house  in  which  ‘ leprosy’  has  appeared.  The  origin 
of  these  spells  is  clearly  to  be  found  in  the  principle  of 
sympathetic  magic.  The  priest  is  to  take  two  birds,  cedar, 
scarlet,  and  hyssop,  and  after  killing  one  of  the  birds  in 
an  earthen  vessel  over  running  water,  he  is  to  dip  the 
remainder  in  the  blood  of  the  dead  bird  and  in  running 
water,  and  to  sprinkle  the  man  or  the  house  seven  times ; 
but  he  shall  let  go  the  living  bird  out  of  the  city  into 


1  M.  Fossey  ( La  Mag ie  Assy rienne,  85)  satisfactorily  refutes  Mr.  Prince’s 
theory  of  the  living  scapegoat  in  Assyrian  which  he  put  forward  in  the 
J.A.O.S.  (1900,  xxi,  1-22),  basing  it  on  the  cuneiform  text  published  by 
Haupt  {Akkad,  u.  Sumer.  Keilschrifttexte ,  104-5).  Since  then,  however, 
Mr.  Prince  has  put  forward  another  article  [Journal  Asiatique,  July- 
August,  1903,  133)  maintaining  his  previous  proposition  from  the  same 
text,  which  he  translates  as  follows  : — “  Prends  le  bouquetin  qui  allege 
la  douleur  ;  place  sa  tete  sur  la  tete  du  malade  ;  du  cote  du  roi,  fils  de 
son  dieu  (c’est-a-dire  le  patient),  chasse-le  ;  que  sa  salive  dans  sa  bouche 
coule  librement  (soit  lachee)  ;  que  le  roi  soit  pur ;  qu’il  soit  sain.” 
M.  Fossey  has  answered  it  in  footnotes  to  the  same  paper,  and,  as  he 
properly  points  out,  ‘  chasse-le  ’  is  not  the  right  translation  for  u-me-te- 
gur-gur,  which  should  be  rendered  by  the  Assyrian  equivalent,  kuppir, 
1  make  the  atonement  for.’  Consequently  there  is  nothing  to  show  that 
the  bouquetin  was  alive,  and  from  a  comparison  of  similar  texts  in 
which  the  animal  has  obviously  been  slaughtered  (see  pp.  203  ff.)  it 
is  plain  that  M.  Fossey  is  correct  when  he  says  that  it  was  killed 
{La  Magie  Assyrienne ,  86). 


186 


EVIL  CARRIED  AWAY  RY  BIRDS. 


the  open  fields.1  One  of  the  so-called  Penitential  Psalms, 
which  is,  in  fact,  more  probably  a  ceremony  for  cleansing 
a  man  from  tabu  when  he  wishes  to  see  something  in  a 
dream,  is  very  closely  connected  with  this  Levitical  charm. 
The  Assyrian  suppliant  prays  to  his  god  and  goddess — 

“  That  my  iniquity  may  be  loosed  (and)  my  sin  be  blotted  out, 

That  my  trespass  be  loosed,  my  bonds  be  cast  off, 

That  the  seven  winds  carry  off  my  bane  ! 

Let  me  cast  off  my  evil  that  the  bird  may  fly  up  to  heaven  with  it, 

That  the  fish  may  carry  off  my  affliction,  that  the  river  may  bear 
it  away, 

That  the  creeping  thing  of  the  field  may  receive  my  iniquity  (and) 
the  flowing  water  of  the  stream  wash  me  clean  ! 

Let  me  shine  forth  as  a  golden  .  .  . 

That  I  may  be  worthy  in  thy  sight  as  a  circlet  (?)  of  diamonds  ! 

Remove  my  guilt,  keep  safe  my  life,  that  I  may  keep  holy  thy 
temenos  (?) 2  and  stand  before  thee. 

Let  my  sin  pass  with  my  evil,3  that  I  be  safe  with  thee  ! 

Vouchsafe  to  me  to  see  a  favourable  dream, 

Be  happy  the  dream  that  I  see,  be  true  the  dream  that  I  see  ! 

Turn  to  fair  omen  the  dream  that  I  shall  see. 

May  Mahir,  the  god  of  dreams,  stand  at  my  head, 

Let  me  enter  into  E-sagila,  the  palace  of  the  house  of  life.”  4 

Birds  are  frequently  used  this  way  in  Semitic  magic.5 

1  The  Talmud  on  Leprosy  (xii,  i)  enlarges  on  this  in  the  following 
way  :  “  All  buildings  receive  uncleanness  in  leprosy  except  the  buildings 
of  foreigners.  He  who  buys  houses  from  foreigners  must  first  inspect 
them.  A  round  house,  a  three-cornered  house,  a  house  built  on  a  ship 
or  on  a  mast,  or  one  built  on  four  beams,  do  not  receive  uncleanness  in 
leprosy.  But  if  the  house  is  square,  even  though  it  be  built  on  four 
pillars,  it  receives  uncleanness  in  leprosy.” 

2  Lussur  hisallaka. 

3  Itti  litmni  sutika  anni. 

4  W.A.l .,  iv,  59,  2,  rev.  1.  10  ff‘. 

5  Birds  are  used  in  later  Hebrew  magic  in  charms  to  make  an  enemy 
become  a  fugitive.  A  man  had  only  to  write  certain  words  in  a  bird’s 
blood  and  bind  them  on  the  bird’s  foot  and  let  it  fly  in  the  open 


THE  HOUSE  IN  WHICH  LEPROSY  APPEARS.  187 


In  Arabia,  as  has  been  mentioned  elsewhere,  a  widow  lets 
a  bird  fly  away  with  the  uncleanness  of  her  widowhood. 
But  there  is  a  still  closer  parallel  in  Assyrian  to  this 
Levitical  magic,  found  in  an  incantation  prescribed  for 
cleansing  a  house  in  which  ‘sorcery’  (upsasu)  has  broken 
out,  which  runs  as  follows : — “  As  the  water  of  the  Sun- 
god  is  borne  from  the  roof  (?)  1  when  he  goeth  down,  so  shall 
the  sorcery  which  hath  appeared  in  the  man’s  house, 
destroying2  the  house,  admit  [its]  bondage  (?).3  Pour  upon 
the  plaister-liquid  wine,  date  wine,  and  beer  from  corn4 
.  .  .  the  vessel  of  the  mixture  (?)  thou  shalt  overlay  with 
thy  feet  and  come  (away  ?) 5  .  .  .  at  sunset  shall  be  cast 
into  the  river;  the  man  that  carrieth  it6  shall  not  enter 
the  house  for  seven  (?)  days.7 

“  On  the  second  day  thou  shalt  cleanse  the  house  with 
a  vessel  of  pure  water,  binu  (-tamarisk),  ^7^-plant, 
ginger  (?),  dwarf-palm,  skin  of  a  great  ox,  ‘  strong  copper,’ 

fields.  If  it  flew  away,  this  was  a  sign  of  the  flight  of  the  enemy  ;  if 
it  returned,  he  would  die  ( Folklore  of  Mossoul ,  P.S.B.A. ,  1906,  106, 
No.  23).  Or,  after  drawing  certain  images  and  writing  the  name  of  the 
man  and  his  mother,  he  might  tie  his  charm  to  the  wings  of  a  dove  or 
other  bird,  and  say,  “  I  conjure  thee,  Qaphsiel,  and  thy  whole  host  that 
thou  drive  away  So  and  So,  that  he  be  wandering  about,  to  and  fro,  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  Lord  drove  Cain  away,”  etc.,  and  then  let  it 
fly  (Gaster,  P.S.B.A .,  1900,  345). 

1  Uru,  1  beam.’  2  Susurat  bUi. 

3  gi-ga-tu  GAR-tr/i,  i.e.  dupsikki  isakan{an). 

4  Cf.  Lev.  xiv,  42,  “  and  he  shall  take  other  mortar,  and  shall  plaister 
the  house.”  The  words  in  Assyrian  are  a-im-par,  i.e.  me  gassi. 

5  .  .  .  karpati  sa  su-luh-ha  ta-kat-tam  ina  sepdn-ka-ma  titebbi. 

6  Cf.  Lev.  xiv,  46,  “  Moreover,  he  that  goeth  into  the  house  all  the 
while  that  it  is  shut  up  shall  be  unclean  until  the  even."  Num.  xix,  10, 
“  And  he  that  gathereth  the  ashes  of  the  heifer  shall  wash  his  clothes, 
and  be  unclean  until  the  even.” 

7  The  Assyrian  number  may  be  ‘  seven.’  Seven  days  is  the  limit  in 
Lev.  xiv,  38,  for  the  priest  to  shut  up  the  house  until  his  return. 


188 


PARALLEL  IN  ASSYRIAN. 


a  torch  of  eru (-tamarisk),  the  marrow  of  the  palm,  (and) 
birbirrida-covTL.1  Thou  shalt  overlay  the  floor 2  of  the 
whole  house  with  bitumen,  plaister,  and  oil  of  cedar  ;  at 
each  door  [of  god  3]  thou  shalt  set  a  censer  (burning)  cypress 
and  cedar.  That  man  he  shall  sprinkle  with  water,4  and 
the  man  who  dwelleth  ...  5  nothing  approach  the  man.” 

Then  follows  this  spell : — 

“  Incantation  : — 

Break  the  bonds  of  her  who  hath  bewitched  me, 

Bring  to  nought  the  mutterings  of  her  who  hath  east  spells  on  me, 
Turn  her  sorcery  to  wind, 

Her  mutterings  to  air  ; 

All  that  she  hath  done  or  wrought  in  magic 
May  the  wind  carry  away  ! 

May  it  bring  her  days  to  ruin  and  a  broken  heart, 

May  it  bring  down  her  years  to  wretchedness  and  woe  ! 

May  she  die,  but  let  me  recover  ; 

May  her  sorcery,  her  magic,  her  spells  be  loosed, 

v 

By  command  of  Ea,  Samas,  Marduk, 

And  the  Princess  Belit-ili. 

Perform  the  Incantation. 


Prayer  when  sorcery  appeareth  in  a  man’s  house.  Thou  shalt 
wash  in  water  ... 6  (and)  offer  7  a  black  ox.  Repeat  this  incantation 
seven  times  and  the  sorcery  will  be  loosed.”  8 

1  Cf.  v.  52,  “And  lie  shall  cleanse  the  house  with  the  blood  of  the 
bird,  and  with  the  running  water,  and  with  the  living  bird,  and  with 
the  cedar  wood,  and  with  the  hyssop  and  with  the  scarlet.” 

2  Sippu. 

Why  this  ilu  is  in  I  cannot  explain,  unless  the  text  should  read 
bdban  /«-«». 

4  Or,  “  That  man  shall  sprinkle  water.”  Cf.  v.  51,  “  and  sprinkle  the 
house  seven  times.” 

5  I  cannot  translate  su-um  en-na  ud-da  al  til-la  satisfactorily. 
It  may  mean  “  .  .  .  until  the  day  of  his  recovery.” 

6  ki-dah-hi  tu-sa-mah  ? 

7  tu- gar -rib  ?  or  tu-sa-kal  ? 

8  W.A.I.,  iv,  59,  1. 


HOUSES  IMMUNE  EEOM  MAGIC. 


189 


There  is  evidently  something  akin  in  this  Assyrian 
upsasu  (sorcery)  to  the  Hebrew  (‘  leprosy ,).1  In 

Leviticus,  the  house  may  show  a  plague  in  its  walls  “  with 
hollow  strakes,  greenish  or  reddish,”  which  may  or  may 
not  increase  in  seven  days.  This  is  clearly  some  form  of 
damp  or  dry-rot.  Evidently  the  early  bouse  -  builders 
associated  it  with  magic,  and  the  Levitical  account  merely 
retains  the  primitive  beliefs.  The  amplification  in  the 
Talmud  (given  in  note  1,  on  p.  186)  also  hints  that  the 
origin  is  to  be  sought  in  hostile  magic.  The  round  house 
is  immune,  and  this  recalls  the  wizard’s  circle.  The  three- 
cornered  house  is  the  same,  doubtless  from  the  magical 
number  three,  and  we  may  also  instance  the  pentacle 
in  comparison  with  its  angular  shape.  A  ship,  according 
to  the  Talmud,  is  always  ‘  clean’  ( Sabbath ,  ix,  2),  and 
hence  cabins  and  fighting-tops  will  be  also  clean ;  the 
immunity  of  the  house  built  on  four  beams  is  not  so  easy 
to  explain,  when  it  is  particularized  that  a  square  house 
is  not  exempt.2 

We  have  seen,  then,  that  the  scapegoat  atonement 
and  the  purification  ceremony  for  the  ‘  leper  ’  and  the 
‘leprous’  house  are  ordinary  savage  magic.  With  this 
as  an  indication  we  may  pursue  our  investigations  into 
the  other  unclean  tabus  on  the  individual,  taking  first 
those  which  cannot  be  called  ‘  sins  ’  by  any  extension  of 


1  There  is  no  evidence  that  leprosy  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word 

existed  among  the  Jews  at  this  period  ;  the  comprised  a  number 

of  cutaneous  disorders,  chief  among  which  are  vitiligo  and  psoriasis 
(Schamberg,  Bibl.  World ,  xiii,  1899,  162).  This,  however,  does  not 
apply  to  the  house. 

2  If,  however,  the  ‘  beams  ’  be  understood  as  ‘  piles,’  the  house  will 
come  into  the  same  category  as  the  ship,  the  water  being  the  safeguard. 


190 


UNCLEAN  TABUS. 


the  word.  Touching  anything  unclean  or  a  dead  body, 
a  woman  after  childbirth,  or  abnormal  issues,  clearly 
represent  the  tabooed  condition  of  one  who  not  only  rims 
the  risk  of  danger  from  spirits,  but  may  have  given 
physical  indication  of  the  effects  of  their  hostility.  All 
these  demand  piacular  offerings;  the  corpse  may  so  infect 
a  tribesman  that  he  invites  the  return  of  the  restless 
ghost  to  plague  him  with  sickness.  Similarly,  that  which 
is  4  unclean  ’  will  have  latent  potentialities  for  disease. 
The  woman  in  childbed  is  infectious  through  the  jealousy 
of  spirits  who  are  hostile  because  of  the  successful  result 
of  her  marriage  with  a  man,  and  she  herself  may  even 
die  from  their  attack,  as  in  puerperal  fever.  Abnormal 
issues  are,  by  their  nature,  diseases,  and  are  clearly  due 
to  demons.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  tabus  against 
ordinary  issues — those  wherein  the  function  is  perfectly 
natural  or  regular — do  not  require  an  4  atonement,’  but 
merely  a  purificatory  ritual.  This  coincides  entirely  with 
our  knowledge  of  the  ostensible  operation  of  the  spirits ; 
the  ba'al  k'ri  and  the  woman  in  her  courses  are  not  supposed 
to  be  4  possessed  ’  by  the  lascivious  demon,  whose  power  is 
merely  transient.  There  is  no  question  of  disease  in 
these  cases;  the  condition  is  a  peculiarity  to  which  any 
member  of  the  tribe  may  be  subject  without  resultant 
hurt,  and  the  succuba  or  incubus  leaves  the  person.  To 
the  savage  mind  this  is  a  certainty,  because  no  man  or 
woman  is  permanently  sick  from  such  natural  functions, 
nor  do  they  die.  Hence,  after  the  lilu  or  lilith  has 
departed,  purification  is  the  only  rite  demanded.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  abnormal  issues  come  under  the  head 
of  protracted  possession  (disease),  and  demand  an  elaborate 
atonement  to  drive  out  the  demon,  who  intends  remaining. 


UNWITTING  SINS. 


191 


Similarly,  eating  ‘unclean’  beasts  demands  only  puri¬ 
fication  (Lev.  xi,  40),  and  this  can  easily  be  traced  to  its 
primitive  source.  The  ‘  unclean  ’  beast  is  the  totem-beast 
which  it  is  nefas  to  kill  or  eat,  except  on  great  occasions, 
but  there  is  often  nothing  inherently  unclean  or  dangerous 
about  its  flesh  to  produce  sickness.  Hence,  accidental 
experiment  probably  showed  the  savage  that  the  spirit 
infection  or  divine  wrath  did  not  follow  as  a  matter  of 
course  if  he  did  eat  it  occasionally,  and  nothing  more 
was  necessary  to  cleanse  him  from  this  breach  than  puri¬ 
fication.  Doubtless  many  things,  without  fins  and  scales, 
were  capable  of  making  him  very  sick  at  certain  seasons, 
but  there  are  obviously  many  totems  which  are  absolutely 
innocuous. 

A  most  important  question  in  these  ‘  atonements  ’  is  the 
meaning  of  the  ‘  unwitting  sins/  and,  as  this  seems  the 
best  point  to  discuss  them,  we  must  leave  the  explanation 
of  the  other  special  tabus  until  later. 

There  are  surely  a  hundred  sins  or  breaches  of  tabu 
that  a  man  may  commit  daily  in  all  innocence  without 
knowing  that  he  has  actually  broken  am^  of  the  tribal 
laws,  notably  in  the  matter  of  contagion.  If  he  has 
done  these  ‘  unwittingly/  how  will  he  know  when  to 
bring  his  piacular  offering,  and  even  then,  what  is  the 
particular  reason  for  the  sacrifice  P 

There  must  clearly  be  some  physical  and  apparent  result 
from  his  breach  of  tabu.  This  is  certain,  otherwise  the 
Levitical  law  would  never  describe  the  action  prior  to  the 
atonement  as  an  ‘  unwitting  ’  sin.  Hence,  by  applying 
a  hypothesis  of  the  connection  of  demons  with  tabu  and 
sickness,  the  obvious  explanation  is  that  the  man  falls 
sick  and  is  at  a  loss  to  know  what  he  has  done  that 


192 


CONNECTION  BETWEEN  SIN  AND  SICKNESS. 


should  have  brought  down  such  a  supernatural  visitation. 
He  therefore  goes  to  the  priest-physician  for  relief;  he 
cannot  remember  all  his  previous  actions,  so  that  the 
priest  may  exorcise  the  particular  form  of  demon  which 
is  troubling  him,  and  hence  the  only  diagnosis  possible  is 
that  of  an  ‘  unwitting  ’  sin  or  breach  of  tabu.  This  is 
clearly  indicated  in  the  Assyrian  Surpu-series.  The  man 
has  fallen  sick,  and  the  priest  is  to  heal  him  with  the 
treatment  prescribed  in  these  tablets.  But,  although  it 
is  perfectly  clear  from  the  internal  evidence  of  the  text 
that  the  man  is  ill,  it  is  to  a  breach  of  the  mamit  or 
tabu  that  such  disease  is  ascribed,  and  it  is  the  particular 
‘sin’  which  the  patient  has  committed  which  the  priest 
is  trying  to  cleanse.  The  possible  tabus  which  the  sick 
man  may  have  broken  are  given  in  a  hundred  and  sixty- 
three  forms  in  the  third  tablet  each  under  the  title  mamit. 
The  fifth  tablet  begins  with  the  line  “  An  evil  curse  (arrat) 
like  a  gallu- demon  hath  attacked  the  man,”  and  the  aid 
of  sympathetic  magic  is  called  in  to  drive  it  away,  by 
shredding  and  burning  garlic,  dates,  hair,  and  wool.  The 
seventh  tablet  begins  still  more  explicitly — 

“  Dimetu  hath  gone  forth  from  the  deep, 

Mamit  hath  come  down  from  the  heavens, 

An  alihazu- demon  hath  covered  (?)  the  earth  as  with  grass  ; 

Unto  the  four  winds,  overwhelming  with  dread,  burning  like  fire, 
They  smite  the  folk  of  all  places,  torturing  their  bodies.” 

It  is  therefore  obvious  that  demons,  tabu,  and  sickness 
were  all  held  to  be  in  close  relation  to  one  another,  and 
that  a  breach  of  tabu  rendered  a  man  liable  to  attract 
the  attention  of  a  spirit,  which  might  affect  him  with 
disease.  The  very  fact  that  the  sorcerer-priest,  in  treating 

v 

his  patient  according  to  the  rules  in  the  Surpu- series, 


UNWITTING  SINS. 


193 


repeats  a  hundred  and  sixty- three  tabus,  shows  that  he 
does  not  know  exactly  what  ‘  sin  ’  the  man  has  committed. 
Just  as  he  will  run  through  a  long  category  of  spirit 
names  when  he  exorcises  the  demon  from  the  sick  man, 
so  will  he  gabble  off  a  string  of  trespasses,  in  any  one  of 
which  the  man  may  have  been  guilty.  It  is  immaterial 
whether  he  knows  which  one  it  is  ;  provided  that  his 
diagnosis  mentions  the  name  of  the  demon  in  the  one 
case,  or  the  sin  in  the  other,  it  is  enough.  We  have, 
therefore,  ample  proof  that  the  Surpu- series  was  written 
in  order  to  provide  the  magicians  with  the  means  of 
cleansing  sick  men  from  the  effect  of  4  unwitting  ’  sins. 

From  this  it  is  an  easy  step  to  understand  that  the 
4  unwitting  ’  sins  of  Leviticus  were  always  followed  by 
some  physical  manifestation  in  the  unlucky  man ;  or  in¬ 
versely,  sickness  was  held  to  be  the  result  of  an  4  unwitting* 
breach  of  tabu,  which  demanded  an  4  atonement  ’  to  free  the 
sick  man  from  the  demon  he  had  attracted.1 

1  Here  I  should  state  the  views  of  Koberle  (Siinde  undt  Gnade,  1905, 
24)  on  the  Babylonian  ideas  :  “  Wie  Siinde,  Krankheit  und  Yerhexung 
zusammen  gehoren,  so  Vergebung,  Heilung  und  kraftiger  Exorcismus. 
Der  Sunder  ist  Patient,  die  Heilsverwirklichung  eine  Kur.  Gnade, 
Vergebung,  Errettung,  Befreiung,  Losung  des  Bannes  u.s.w.  beziehen 
sich  durchaus  auf  das  aussere  Ergehen  des  Betenden.”  Cf.  Morgenstern’s 
views  in  The  Doctrine  of  Sin  in  the  Babylonian  Religion ,  1905,  3  : 
“  In  the  Babylonian  religious  literature  the  expressions,  sin,  uncleanli¬ 
ness,  sickness,  possession  by  evil  spirits,  are  pure  synonyms.  They 
denote  an  evil  state  of  the  body,  the  result  of  the  divine  anger 55  ;  but  he 
says,  “  sin  must  originally  have  been  purely  ritual.  Either  the  man  had 
neglected  to  offer  his  sacrifice,  or  else  had  not  offered  it  properly.  .  .  . 
Before  the  layman  could  bring  sacrifice,  he  had  to  be  ritually  clean.  .  .  . 
Sin  was  thus  originally  merely  the  transgression  of  ritual  laws,  and  as 
such  appears  throughout  the  Babylonian  religious  literature”  (ibid.,  2). 
If  I  understand  rightly  what  is  meant  by  c  ritual,5  I  cannot  agree  with 
him.  Many  ‘  sins,5  as  we  have  seen,  arose  from  the  breach  of  unclean 
tabus  ;  the  original  idea  was  that  a  demoniac  attack  followed  any 


o 


194  THE  BURNT-OFFERING  AND  THE  ATONEMENT. 

The  next  point  to  discuss  is  the  distinction  which  is 
made  in  ‘  offering  ’  the  sacrificial  meal  and  the  substitute, 
or  in  other  words,  tbe  burnt-offering  and  the  atonement. 
The  burnt-offering  is  the  direct  descendant  of  the  sacrificial 
feast  to  which  the  god,  in  common  with  all  the  tribe,  was 
invited.  In  later  times,  however,  it  was  entirely  consumed 
on  the  altar.  But  the  sin-offering  is  treated  in  several 
ways.  Sometimes  the  directions  are  for  the  flesh,  skin,  and 
dung  to  be  burnt  outside  the  camp,  while  the  fat,  the  caul, 
and  the  kidneys,  etc.,  are  to  be  burnt  on  the  altar,1  while 
the  blood  is  to  be  sprinkled  round  about.  Frequently,  on 
the  other  hand,  nothing  is  said  of  the  consumption  of  the 
carcase;2  sometimes  the  priests  may  eat  it,3  unless  some 
of  the  blood  has  been  brought  into  the  tabernacle  of  the 
congregation,  when  the  whole  must  be  burnt.  The  best 
explanation  of  these  apparent  contradictions  seems  to  be 
that  there  is  a  confusion  of  two  systems,  one  of  which  is 
the  more  primitive  method  of  cleansing  the  sick  from 
their  tabu.  The  uses  of  the  blood  and  fat  in  these  ‘  atone¬ 
ments  ’  demand  some  research  into  their  origin,  and  we 
must  find  some  hypothesis  for  the  reason  why  the  beast 
was  slaughtered  instead  of  having  its  neck  broken,  and 
why  the  fat  was  burnt  on  the  altar. 

meddling  with,  unclean  persons.  But,  originally  at  least,  such  a  Breach 
did  not  necessarily  imply  any  immediate  relations  with  a  god,  but  were 
entirely  distinct,  and  primarily  concerned  the  danger  to  fellow- 
tribesmen.  Doubtless  an  ‘  unclean  5  man  came  to  be  excluded  from 
the  worship,  but  ‘ritual5  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  primitive  ideas 
here.  Again,  his  hypothesis  that  sin  is  due  to  a  man  not  offering  his 
sacrifice  duly  or  properly  needs  little  disproof  if  the  Surpu- tabus  be 
read  with  intelligence.  At  the  same  time  he  is  quite  correct,  I  believe, 
when  he  says,  “  the  curing  of  sickness,  the  expulsion  of  evil  spirits,  and 
the  expiation  of  sin,  are  identical 55  (ibid.,  6). 

1  Exod.  xxix  ;  Lev.  iv  ;  Lev.  viii  (cf.  ix). 

2  Exod.  xxx  ;  Lev.  iv,  xv,  xxiii.  3  Lev.  vi,  xiv. 


BLOOD  IN"  THE  ATONEMENT  SACRIFICE. 


195 


The  ‘  blood  ’  question  is,  I  think,  to  be  explained  thus  :• — 
If  we  go  back  to  the  most  primitive  ideas,  dissociating 
our  views  from  the  later  (and  probably  corrupt)  customs 
of  the  Old  Testament,  we  find  that  the  magician  has 
to  inveigle  the  demon  out  of  the  sick  person  into  the 
substitute.  Since  he  knows  that  evil  spirits  are  particularly 
attracted  by  blood,  he  cuts  the  throat  of  the  beast  which 
is  henceforth  to  be  the  receptacle  of  the  demoniac  influence. 
Throughout  the  whole  conception  of  the  Hebrew  idea  it  is 
the  shedding  of  the  blood,  that  is  the  life,  which  effects  the 
atonement.  “For  it  is  the  blood  which  maketh  atonement 
by  reason  of  the  life”  (Lev.  xvii,  11),  which  is  amplified 
in  Heb.  ix,  22,  “  and  according  to  the  law,  I  may  almost 
say,  all  things  are  cleansed  with  blood,  and  apart  from 
the  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  remission.”  That  to  the 
Hebrews  the  blood  was  the  life  is  shown  in  Lev.  xvii,  14, 
and  Heut.  xii,  23,  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  in  this  con¬ 
nection,  that  in  the  Assyrian  creation-texts  the  gods  arm 
their  champion  Marduk,  saying,  “  Go,  and  cut  off  the  life 
of  Tiamat,  and  let  the  wind  carry  her  blood  into  secret 
places,”  1  and  when  Marduk  creates  man  he  does  it  with 
his  blood.2  Moreover,  the  Assyrian  exorcisms  describe  the 
devils  as  “  ceaselessly  devouring  blood.”  3  There  are  two 
quotations  from  later  writers  which  are  worth  considering, 
one  from  Maimonides  : 4  “  Although  blood  was  very  unclean 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Sabians,  they  nevertheless  partook  of  it, 
because  they  thought  it  was  the  food  of  spirits;  by  eating 
it  man  has  something  in  common  with  the  spirits,  which 

1  King,  Seven  Tablets  of  Creation,  61  ;  Tablet  IV,  11.  31,  32.  Cf. 
11.  131,  132. 

2  Ibid.,  87.  3  See  p.  49. 

4  Guide  to  the  Perplexed,  iii,  xlvi ;  Chwolsohn,  Die  Ssabier,  ii,  480. 


196 


BLOOD  IN  THE  ATONEMENT  SACRIFICE. 


join  him  and  tell  him  future  events,  according  to  the 
notion  which  people  generally  have  of  spirits.  There 
were,  however,  people  who  objected  to  eating  blood,  as  a 
thing  naturally  disliked  by  man ;  they  killed  a  beast, 
received  the  blood  in  a  vessel  or  in  a  pot,  and  ate  of  the 
flesh  of  that  beast,  whilst  sitting  round  the  blood.  They 
imagined  that  in  this  manner  the  spirits  would  come  to 
partake  of  the  blood  which  was  their  food,  whilst  the 
idolaters  were  eating  the  flesh ;  that  love,  brotherhood, 
and  friendship  with  the  spirits  was  established,  because 
they  dined  with  the  latter  at  one  place  and  at  the  same 
time;  that  the  spirits  would  appear  to  them  in  dreams, 
inform  them  of  coming  events,  and  be  favourable  to 
them.”  The  second  is  from  Origen  : 1  “The  slaughter  of 
victims  is  in  itself  enough  to  lure  the  demons  to  the 
heathen  temples.  But  even  without  that,  they  can  be 
attracted  to  a  place  and  laid  therein  by  use  of  certain 
incantations.”  Are  we  to  consider  that  these  two  writers 
are  merely  designating  the  gods  of  neighbouring  worshippers 
as  ‘  devils/  in  accordance  with  local  fanaticism,  or  must 
wTe  here  see  some  reminiscence  of  substitution  to  demons  ? 
What  must  be  recognized  is  that  this  slaughter  is  by  no 
means  a  sacrificial  meal;  in  the  Assyrian  texts  the  beast 
is  shown  not  to  be  eaten.  Frequently  directions  are  given 
for  it  to  be  thrown  away,  as  containing  the  evil  influence, 
and  as  such  unfit  for  food. 

Pursuing  the  analogy  of  the  attraction  that  blood  has 
for  spirits,  we  should  see  in  the  custom  of  burning  the 
fat  on  the  altar  some  similar  design.  It  seems  quite 
logical  to  say  that,  just  as  the  smell  of  newly-shed  blood 


1  Conybeare,  J.Q. ,  ix,  61,  quoting  C.  Cels.,  iii,  34. 


BURNT  FAT  PLEASING  TO  GODS  AND  DEMONS.  197 


invites  the  presence  of  devils,  so  will  the  sweet  odour  of 
burnt  fat  act  as  a  bait,  just  as  it  is  a  sweet  savour  unto 
Yahweh.  “The  fat  is  Yahweh’s,” 1  and  this  is  to  be 
paralleled  from  many  savage  tribes.2  Devils  can  be  re¬ 
pelled  by  an  evil  stench,  as  in  the  case  of  Asmodeus,  and 
gods  can  be  attracted  by  the  sweet  savour  of  sacrifice, 
as  happened  after  the  Flood,  both  in  the  Hebrew  and 
Babylonian  accounts.  Further,  melted  fat  is  the  only 
fluid,  other  than  blood,  that  can  be  offered  in  a  libation 
from  the  sacrifice,  which  should  be  taken  into  account  in 
reckoning  its  holiness.  We  shall  not  be  far  wrong  in 
ascribing  the  possession  of  a  keen  sense  of  smell  to  all 
the  Semitic  spiritual  world,  in  agreement  with  their  other 
rapacious  appetites.  Armed  with  the  practical  knowledge 
of  the  irresistible  attraction  of  blood  and  pleasant  savour, 
the  sorcerer  could  wheedle  the  most  recalcitrant  devil  from 
his  patient. 

This,  however,  does  not  explain  why,  although  the  ‘  atone¬ 
ment  *  is  so  charged  with  demoniac  influence,  it  occasionally 
became  the  priests’,  or  why  the  holy  altar  of  Yahweh  should 
have  been  the  place  for  the  sacrifice.  I  do  not  think, 
however,  that  it  requires  great  acumen  to  see  that  the 
piacular  offerings  of  the  Old  Testament  are  in  an  extremely 
confused  state  when  they  are  compared  with  each  other. 
Ordinances  are  given  for  the  disposal  of  the  ‘  atonement  ’ 
sacrifices,  which  seem  most  arbitrary  in  their  differences. 
Hay,  in  one  case  (in  the  first  chapter  of  Leviticus),  the 
‘  atonement  ’  idea  is  obviously  confused  with  a  sacrifice  of 

1  Lev.  iii,  16. 

2  Robertson  Smith,  Rel.  & 'em.,  380  ff.  On  the  burning  of  fat  see 
ibid.,  386.  On  his  views  of  the  viscera,  kidneys,  and  liver  being  the 
seats  of  emotion,  or  more  broadly,  “  the  fat  of  the  omentum  and  the 
organs  that  lie  in  and  near  it,”  see  ibid.,  379. 


198 


CONFUSION  OF  OFFERINGS. 


burnt  -  offering.  One  has  only  to  compare  the  modern 
Semitic  folklore  to  see  how  entirely  the  two  rites,  sacrificial 
feasts  and  piacular  substitutes,  have  been  confused  with 
one  another.  The  fact  must  be  recognized  that  analogy, 
a  process  universally  admitted  by  scholars,  is  responsible 
for  this  confusion,  and  that  the  Levitical  injunction  1  “  they 
shall  no  more  offer  their  sacrifices  to  devils  ”  indicates 
a  natural  desire  to  bring  the  ‘  atonement  ’  sacrifices  into 
accord  with  the  ideas  of  dedication. 

We  may  therefore  presume  that  later  magicians  perhaps 
learnt  that  the  substitute,  which  was  supposed  to  have 


1  Lev.  xvii,  7.  Cf.  1  Cor.  x,  20.  On  the  contradictions  in  the 
different  atonement  ceremonies  compare  Wellhausen,  Die  Comjp.  des 
Hexat.  und  Histor.  Bucher  des  Alten  Testaments ,  1899,  136  :  “  Ich  will 
nur  auf  einen  Punkt  aufmerksam  machen,  namlich  auf  die  Differenz 
in  dem  Siindopferritus,  von  der  schon  der  Nachtrag  Lev.  10, 16-20,  Akt 
genommen  hat.  In  Lev.  4  wird  das  Blut  beim  gewohnlichen  Siindopfer 
an  die  Horner  des  Brandopferaltars  gestrichen,  dagegen  beim  Siindopfer 
des  Hohenpriesters  und  des  Volkes  in  das  Innere  der  Hiitte  gebracht, 
an  den  Vorhang  gesprengt  und  an  die  Horner  des  Raucheraltars 
gestrichen.  Dieser  Unterschied  wird  Exod.  29  und  Lev.  9  nicht 
gemacht,  vielmehr  wird  29,  12.  9,  9.  15  auch  beim  Siindopfer  des 
Hohenpriesters  und  des  Volkes  das  Blut  nur  an  den  Opferaltar 
gestrichen.  Es  ist  dies  aber  hier  offenbar  der  solenne  Ritus,  denn 
es  hat  keinen  Sinn  anzunehmen,  bei  der  Einweihung  der  Hiitte  sei 
ausnahmsweise  drei  Male  eine  weniger  feierliche  Form  beliebt  worden, 
und  ausserdem  wird  29,  14.  9,  11.  15  das  Fleisch  grade  so  draussen 
vor  dem  Lager  verbrannt,  wie  es  nach  Lev.  4  nur  bei  den  heiligsten 
Siindopfern  geschieht,  deren  Blut  in  das  Innere  der  Hiitte  gekommen 
ist.  Also  eine  unleugbare  und  unauflosbare  Differenz.  Lev.  4  geht 
einen  Schritt  liber  Exod.  29.  Lev.  9  hinaus,  die  Steigerung 
erscheint  auch  darin,  dass  hier  als  Siindopfer  des  Volkes  eine  Farre 
gefordert  wird,  wahrend  Lev.  9  (vgl.  Kap.  16)  nur  ein  Ziegenbock. 
Schliesslich  scheint  es  nach  der  Unterschrift  7,  38,  als  ob  die  Uber- 
schrift  1,  1  erst  spater  zugesetzt  worden  sei,  um  Lev.  1-7  in  die 
Stiftshiittengesetzgebung  einzufiigen  ;  jedoch  wird  die  letztere  sachlich 
vorausgesetzt.’5  Of  course,  a  god  aided  in  the  ‘  atonement 5  ;  cf.  p.  210, 
where  a  pig  is  killed  “  before  Samas.” 


THE  CLEAN  PLACE. 


199 


absorbed  the  demoniac  influence,  was  not  always  so  deadly 
as  their  ancestors  had  accounted  it.  An  Oriental  wizard, 
not  too.  well  blessed  with  this  world’s  goods,  is  not  unlikely 
to  have  been  loth  to  let  a  good  lamb  be  thrown  away,  and 
his  surreptitious  feast  may  perhaps  have  given  rise  to  this 
alternative  method  of  the  disposal  of  the  carcase.  *  Heathen  ’ 
priests  were  always  under  suspicion  of  battening  on  the 
deity’s  food  unknown  to  the  worshippers,  as  we  learn  from 
the  apocryphal  story  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon,  and  there 
was  probably  not  much  to  choose  in  the  matter  of  accep¬ 
tance  of  perquisites  between  the  priests  of  one  nation  or 
another  ;  out  of  this,  as  a  corollary,  a  second  explanation 
arises,  which  will  also  include  the  use  of  the  holy  altar,  and 
that  is,  that  these  piacular  offerings  as  we  now  have  them 
had  begun  to  be  so  confounded  with  the  sacrifices  of  burnt- 
offerings,  and  the  real  significance  of  their  origin  so  lost, 
that  much  of  the  atonement  ritual  had  been  brought  into 
similitude  with  the  traditions  of  the  tribal  sacrificial  feast, 
although  several  of  the  salient  features  remained. 

We  have  next  to  settle  what  is  meant  by  the  ordinance 
which  directs  that  the  ashes  of  the  piacular  offering  are 
to  be  taken  to  a  “clean  place  where  the  ashes  are  poured 
out.”  The  Levitical  phrase  is  exactly  paralleled  in  the 
Assyrian  Surpu- series,  “let  the  tabu,  its  bond  go  forth  to 
the  desert,  the  clean  place.”  1  There  is,  however,  no  reason 
to  suppose  with  Haupt  (and,  following  him,  Meissner2)  that 
this  is  a  euphemism  for  an  unclean  place.  ‘  Unclean 

1  Ed.  Meissner,  33,  Tablet  V,  1.  165.  Cf.  Knobel,  ed.  Dillmann, 
Leviticus ,  1880,  383  :  “  jenes  hatte  man  an  reinen  Orten  (den  Zehnten 
an  jeglichen  Ort)  und  im  Zustand  der  Reinheit,  dieses  am  heiligen  Ort 
und  natiirlich  auch  im  Zustand  der  Reinheit  zu  geniessen.” 

2  xix,  55. 


200 


THE  BARREN  YALLEY. 


places 5  are  cemeteries,  ruins,  latrines,  and  the  like,  such 
as  are  inhabited  by  demons  who  would  resent  the  approach 
of  any  mortal  thus  ill-treating  one  of  their  number,  and 
would  doubtless  help  the  devil  imprisoned  in  the  ‘  atone¬ 
ment.’  The  Rabbis  considered  that  it  was  proper  for  a 
man,  on  going  into  an  unclean  place,  to  beg  the  two  angels 
which  accompanied  him  to  wait  until  he  should  return.1 
Obviously  the  reason  is  that  these  angels  were  not  strong 
enough  to  cope  with  the  local  devils,  if  they  trespassed 
on  their  domain.  This  maintains  in  the  spirit  world 
the  Semitic  principle  which  compels  a  traveller  to  obtain 
a  foreign  shekh’ s  permission  previous  to  crossing  his 
territory. 

In  the  rite  of  Deut.  xxi,  1,  the  reason  for  the  “  barren 
valley  ”  being  chosen  is,  according  to  Dillmann,  Ewald, 
and  Keil,  in  order  that  the  purifying  blood  may  not  be 
uncovered  and  lose  its  virtue ;  according  to  Robertson 
Smith,  that  it  may  avoid  all  risk  of  contact  with  sacrosanct 
flesh.2  But  it  may  be  only  in  accord  with  the  idea  of  the 
scapegoat  which  is  sent  into  the  desert.  Jeremias  3  quotes 
Josephus  as  saying  that  the  second  scapegoat,  before  the 
burning,  had  to  be  brought  to  a  very  clean  place  (ec? 
fcadapcoTcnov  Ant.,  iii,  10,  3).  Again,  are  we  to 

see  in  this  deposition  of  tabooed  articles  outside  the  camp 
an  explanation  why,  at  the  capture  of  Jericho  (Josh,  vi,  23), 
they  put  Rahab  and  her  family  *  outside  the  camp/  the 
remainder  of  the  inhabitants  being  ‘ devoted’  P 4 

/ 

1  Berakhoth ,  60Z>,  quoted  Jewish  Encycl.  sub  voce  Angelology. 

2  Encycl.  Bibl .,  846.  3  Ibid.,  4123. 

4  In  an  Assyrian  text  (see  p.  177)  we  find  kurpi  indicated  as  the 
locality  for  disposing  of  the  ‘  substitute  ’  after  the  ceremony.  Suk 
irbitti ,  ‘  cross-roads,’  is  apparently  the  place  where  the  1  atonement  ’  is 


THE  ATONEMENT  EXORCISM. 


201 


After  this  rather  lengthy  digression  on  the  ‘  unwitting  ’ 
sins  we  may  return  to  the  other  special  cases  of  ‘  atone¬ 
ments/  For  the  moment  we  shall  omit  the  ‘atonements’ 
for  oaths  and  ordinary  ‘  sin  9  (cases  d,  e)  ;  the  ‘  unwitting  ’ 
sin  of  the  ruler  (case  3)  comes  under  two  heads,  that  of 


to  be  put,  but  the  text  is  mutilated.  With  regard  to  Jcurpi  =  ‘  ash- 
heaps,’  it  is  so  purely  conjectural  that  it  affords  no  room  for  discussion. 
The  word  occurs  elsewhere  in  Macmillan’s  article  in  Beitr.  fur  Assyr., 
v,  534,  ana  mu-tu  .  .  .  Jcurpi  Jcurpi  usabri.  The  ‘  cross-roads,’  on  the 
other  hand,  are  difficult  of  explanation,  for  they  are  the  resort  of 
spirits  ;  Hecate  is  often  to  be  found  there,  and  in  the  Testament  of 
Solomon  (Conybeare,  J.Q.,  xi,  26)  the  demon  Envy  says,  c<  In  the  cross- 
ways  also  I  have  many  services  to  render”  (see  Frazer,  Golden  Bough , 
iii,  80  ;  Maury,  La  Magie ,  1 76).  In  Talmudic  medicine,  to  heal  an 
issue  of  blood,  the  patient  was  to  sit  at  a  parting  of  the  ways  with  a  cup 
of  wine  in  her  hand,  and  some  one  coming  up  behind  her  was  to  cry  out 
suddenly,  “Be  healed  of  thine  issue  of  blood”  (Creighton,  Encycl.  Bibl ., 
3006).  Maimonides  ( Guide  to  the  Perplexed,  iii,  xxxvii)  quotes  the 
Talmud  ( Chullin ,  77a)  as  saying  that  the  uterus  of  animals  which  have 
been  selected  for  the  sanctuary  must  be  buried  and  not  suspended 
from  a  tree  or  buried  at  the  cross-roads,  because  “  this  is  one  of  the 
ways  of  the  Amorite.”  The  suspension  of  placenta  on  trees  occurs  in 
savage  anthropology.  “In  the  Babar  Archipelago,  between  New 
Guinea  and  Celebes,  the  placenta  are  mixed  with  ashes  and  put  in 
a  small  basket,  which  seven  women,  each  of  them  armed  with  a  sword, 
hang  up  on  a  tree  of  a  particular  kind  ( Citrus  hystrix).  The  women 
carry  swords  for  the  purpose  of  frightening  the  evil  spirits  ;  otherwise 
these  mischievous  beings  might  get  hold  of  the  placenta,  and  thereby 
make  the  child  sick”  (Riedel,  Die  sluiJc  en  fcroesharige  rassen  tusschen 
Selebes  en  Papua,  quoted  Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  i,  54).  The  Talmudic 
charm  for  the  issue  of  blood  is  merely  an  instance  of  sympathetic 
magic  ;  the  cup  of  wine  represents  the  blood,  and  the  sudden  start 
caused  by  the  unexpected  cry  will  cause  the  person  to  spill  it.  This  is, 
of  course,  typical  of  what  will  happen  to  the  issue.  Presumably  the 
cross-roads  have  some  particular  influence  on  this  ‘  atonement  ’  (the 
wine  is  little  more)  in  the  same  way  as  in  the  Assyrian  text.  The 
Phoenician  inscriptions  do  not  throw  any  light,  as  far  as  I  know,  on 
the  ‘atonement’  system;  in  the  text  C.I.S.,  i,  237,  252,  the  parts  of 
the  sacrifice  to  be  taken  by  the  offerer  are  mentioned,  but  the  meanings 
of  the  words  for  sacrifices  are  not  entirely  determined. 


202 


THE  ATONEMENT  EXORCISM. 


the  Royal  Tabu,1  explained  on  p.  138,  and  the  ‘  unwitting  * 
sin  of  the  individual,  which  has  already  been  discussed. 
The  Tribal  ‘Atonement31  (case  5)  for  ‘unwitting’  sin  is 
of  a  similar  nature.  The  Priestly  ‘  Atonement  ’  (case  4)  is 
clearly  to  be  accounted  as  a  method  of  cleansing  the 
priest-elect  from  any  unknown  breach  of  tabu  which  must 
be  removed  before  he  can  be  consecrated,  and  this  must 
be  the  explanation  of  Hum.  xxix,  1  ff.  Our  next  step  is 
to  substantiate  our  theory  from  the  Assyrian  incantations. 

We  have  seen  that  the  ‘atonement’  of  the  Hebrews  in 
which  the  bird  flies  away  with  uncleanness  is  ordinary 
magic,  and  the  transference  of  ills  to  waxen  figures  or 
animals  is  as  common  among  the  Semites  as  with  other 
savages.  In  Assyrian  folklore  this  was  one  of  the 
commonest  ways  of  exorcising  a  demon  to  go  forth  from 
the  sick  man,  and,  what  is  more,  as  we  have  already 
mentioned,  the  word  in  frequent  use  is  kuppuru,  radically 
the  same  as  the  word  for  ‘  atone  ’  in  Hebrew.  The  process 
is  simple :  the  priest  slaughters  an  animal,  pig  or  kid, 
as  a  substitute  for  the  sick  man,  so  that  he  may  thus,  as 
Tylor  says,  coax  the  demon,  threaten  it,  make  offerings  to 


1  One  of  the  Assyrian  1  atonements  ’  published  by  Zimmern  ( Ritual - 
tafeln ,  137)  gives  the  ceremony  for  purifying  the  king — 

“  Thou  shalt  make  pure  ‘  atonements  5  for  the  king, 

Bringing  a  censer  (and)  a  torch  to  him, 

Washing  him  in  a  water  bowl  ; 

Fill  [two]  burzigalsar-\e ssels  with  water  from  the  bowl, 
Putting  cedar  (and)  cypress  in  the  water, 

Put  two  ‘  atonement  ’-vessels  there  ; 

The  king  shall  hold  one  ‘  atonement  ’-vessel  on  his  right  and  his 
left  hand.” 

The  rest  is  mutilated.  Unfortunately  the  preceding  part  of  the 
tablet  is  lost,  and  we  cannot  tell  why  a  purification  is  needed.  But  it 
certainly  points  to  the  principle  of  Royal  Tabu. 


6  ATONEMENT  ’  FOR  THE  EVIL  EYE. 


203 


it,  entice  or  drive  it  out  of  his  patient’s  body,  to  induce 
it  to  take  up  its  abode  in  some  other.  The  connection 
between  the  Hebrew  and  Assyrian  ceremonies  will  be 
obvious  to  anyone  who  reads  the  following  quotations 
from  the  cuneiform  tablets.  They  are  all  exorcisms  for 
persons  suffering  from  some  sickness.  For  instance,  in  the 
case  of  the  astf/c/tw-disease,  Marduk  is  given  the  following 
advice  by  bis  father  Ea,  and  the  priest  follows  it  in  healing 
the  sick  man  : —  1 

“  Take  a  white  kid  of  Tammuz,2 
Lay  it  down  facing  the  sick  man, 

Take  out  its  heart  and 

Place  it  in  the  hand  of  that  man  ; 

Perform  the  Incantation  of  Eridu  ; 

The  kid  whose  heart  thou  hast  taken  out 
Is  unclean  3 *  food  with  which  thou  makest  atonement  for 
the  man  ; 

1  Devils ,  ii,  Tablet  XI,  1.  73  ff. 

2  Comparable  with  this  is  Xenocrates5  dictum  that  the  blood  of 
the  kid  was  useful  against  epilepsy  (Ibn  el-Be'ithar,  Notices  des  MSS., 
xxv,  93). 

3  Lulu  or  lit,  for  which  see  my  article,  P.S.B.A.,  Feb.  1908.  As  the 
word  is  important,  the  reasons  for  adopting  the  meaning  ‘  unclean 1 
or  ‘  filthy 5  are  repeated  here.  It  may  also  have  the  meaning  of 

‘  excrement,5  which  is  paralleled  by  the  Syriac  stercus , 

Brjb  ‘  dross  of  iron.5  Lu'u  has  the  particular  meaning  of  ‘  filthy  5  in 
regard  to  streets  :  ullila  sidlisunu  hCuti , £  I  cleansed  their  filthy  streets 5 
(. B.A. ,  i,  10,  quoted  Muss-Arnolt,  464),  and  there  is  also  a  group  har- 
TU-NA=fat-5-i* gi-ri-ti  (Briinnow,  No.  8596).  A  classical  text  (Sennacherib, 
vi,  16)  gives  ‘  the  deluge  of  my  fighting  kirua  li-e  zumursun  ishup  swept 
away  their  bodies  like  dung  5  (Delitzsch,  H.  W.B.,  374,  refers,  possibly, 
to  another  hi).  It  has  to  be  some  plastic  material,  for  little  magical 
figures  are  made  from  it  :  e.g.,  Maklu  ii,  113,  inim-inim-ma,  mussaprata 
nadi  (?)  salam  li  kan,  ‘  Prayer  of  uttering  a  chant  (?)  over  a  figure  of 
It  (i.e.  dung),’  parallel  hymns  to  this  being  recited  over  figures  of 
bitumen,  bronze,  etc.,  in  the  same  tablet.  Compare  also  iv,  41 
(, salmdni )  lu  sa  idda  \lii\  sa  titu  lu  sa  U ,  “  (figures)  either  of  bitumen, 


204 


‘  ATONEMENT  ’  FOE  THE  EVIL  EYE. 

Bring  forth  a  censer  (and)  a  torch 
Scatter  it  in  the  street ; 

Surround  that  man  with  meal, 

Perform  the  Incantation  of  Eridu, 

Invoke  the  great  gods 

That  the  evil  Spirit,  the  evil  Demon,  the  evil  Ghost, 

The  Hag-demon,  the  Ghoul,  the  fever  or  heavy  sickness, 
Which  is  in  the  body  of  the  man, 

May  be  removed  and  go  forth  from  the  house  !  ” 

or  clay,  or  It  (dung).”  Tallqvist  translates  ‘  honig,’  but  this  cannot 
be  correct.  In  the  grammatical  text,  K.  246  (i,  65,  W.A.I ,  ii,  17), 
two  ‘  unclean  ’  substances  are  mentioned  :  It  sa  ina  zumri  kuppuru , 
paralleled  by  akcdu  sa  zumur  ameli  mussudu.  The  latter  must  be 
‘  food  which  a  man’s  body  has  expressed 5  (less  probably  ‘  rejected,’ 
i.e.  vomited),  and  hence  the  former  must  have  a  meaning,  at  least,  in 
connection.  Kuppuru  is,  as  is  now  unnecessary  to  explain,  ‘  to  make 
atonement,’  and  the  It  is  constantly  used  in  connection  with  it,  and 
hence  we  may  try  a  tentative  translation  :  ‘refuse  which  has  made 
atonement  for  the  body  of  a  man.’  The  sense  of  this  last  passage 
becomes  clear  from  the  present  text  :  ‘The  kid,  whereof  thou  hast 
taken  out  the  heart,  (becomes)  fo’T-food  (unclean),  with  which  thou  shalt 
make  atonement  for  the  man  ;  bring  a  censer  (and)  a  torch,  scatter 
it  (the  unclean  food)  in  the  street.’  Another  such  is  Tablet  ‘  T,’ 
line  38  (ibid.),  Akala  It  ina  kakkadi-su  sukun-ma,  ‘  set  refuse-food  at 
his  head.’ 

An  additional  argument  for  the  meaning  ‘  excrement  ’  is  found  in 
Maklu  viii,  87,  88  :  II  kurummati  Ita-a-an  salam  amelu  kassapi  u  sal 
kassapti  akal  It  epus-ma  libbi  kurummati  suruh-ma.  1  Make  two  meals 
of  dung,  one  each  for  the  figures  of  sorcerer  and  sorceress,  and  make 
invocation  over  the  food.’  Tallqvist  translates  ‘mache  von  leckerhafter 
Nahrung,’  but  this  seems  less  probable.  Hostile  magicians  in  effigy 
are  not  treated  well,  and  the  most  abominable  food  is  set  before  them 
to  drive  them  away.  Delicacies  are  more  likely  to  attract  them  than 
to  attain  the  desired  object.  The  directions  finish  with  an  injunction 
to  place  these  ‘  meals  ’  right  and  left  of  them,  repeat  an  incantation, 
and  then  give  them  to  ‘dog  and  bitch.’  Cf.  pp.  169,  207.  In  an 
incantation  against  rheumatism  (P.S.B.A.,  Feb.  1908),  the  priest  must 
put  one  ka  of  leaven  on  the  shs?£r-reed,  and  put  the  sick  foot  thereon, 
and  ‘  make  the  atonement  ’  for  the  foot  with  the  It  (refuse)  of  the  leaven. 
Again  the  use  appears  to  be  pregnant  ;  it  will  become  ‘  refuse  ’  when  it 
has  done  its  work.  Kuchler,  in  treating  of  this  word,  shortly  (in  his 
A ss.  Bab.  Medizm)  translates  it  by  ‘dough,’  which  seems  less  probable. 


PARALLEL  PROM  MALAY  MAGIC. 


205 


The  Evil  Eye,  which  has  smitten  the  patient,  is  thus 
exorcised  : — 

“  The  roving  Evil  Eye 

Hath  looked  on  the  neighbourhood  and  hath  vanished  far  away, 
Hath  looked  on  the  vicinity  and  hath  vanished  far  away, 

Hath  looked  on  the  chamber  of  the  land  and  hath  vanished  far  away,. 
It  hath  looked  on  the  wanderer, 

And  like  wood  cut  off  for  kindling  (?)  it  hath  bent  his  neck. 

Ea  hath  seen  this  man  and 
Hath  placed  food  at  his  head, 

Hath  brought  food  nigh  to  his  body, 

Plath  shown  favour  for  his  life  ; 

Thou  man,  son  of  his  god, 

May  the  food  which  I  have  brought  to  thy  head — 

May  the  food  with  which  I  have  made  an  ‘  atonement 5  for  thy 
body, 

Assuage  thy  sickness  (?),  and  thou  be  restored, 

That  thy  foot  may  stand  in  the  land  of  life  ; 1 

Thou  man,  son  of  his  god, 

The  Eye  which  hath  looked  on  thee  for  harm, 

The  Eye  which  hath  looked  on  thee  for  evil. 
«••••••••• 

May  Ba’u  smite  [it]  with  flax(?), 

May  Gunura  [smite  it]  with  a  great  oar  (?), 

Like  rain  which  is  let  fall  from  heaven  directed  unto  earth, 

So  may  Ea,  King  of  the  Deep,  remove  it  from  thy  body.”  2 

A  ceremony  so  similar  as  to  be  worthy  of  careful  com¬ 
parison  occurs  among  the  Malays.  Whenever  a  person 
is  suffering  from  the  influence  of  a  waxen  image,  the 
Malay  magician  rubs  him  all  over  with  limes  in  order 
to  cast  out  the  mischief.  These  limes  must  he  of  seven 
different  kinds,  and  three  of  each  kind  are  necessary. 
When  they  have  been  obtained  he  must  fumigate  them 
with  incense,  and  repeat  a  charm  overnight.  Early  next 
morning  three  thicknesses  of  birah- leaves  must  be  laid 


1  Cf.  Jer,  xi,  19. 


2  Devils ,  ii,  113. 


206 


CEREMONY  FROM  THE  SJZBPtf-SERIES. 


down  for  the  patient  to  stand  on  during  the  lustration, 
and  the  limes  are  to  be  squeezed  into  a  bowl  and  used 
partly  for  washing  and  partly  medicinally.  “  The  ‘  trash  ’ 
of  the  limes  (after  squeezing)  is  wrapped  up  in  a  birah - 
leaf  at  evening,  and  either  carried  out  to  the  sea  (into 
which  it  is  dropped)  or  deposited  ashore  at  a  safe  distance 
from  the  house.”  1  This  ‘  trash *  must  be  the  hCu  or  aka l 
IV i,  1  unclean  food/  of  the  Assyrian  incantations. 

In  the  case  of  headache,  sympathetic  magic  forms  the 
treatment ;  a  hat  (?)  of  reeds  is  to  be  put  on  the  man,  and 
the  pain-demon  will  be  absorbed  in  it.  It  is  then  broken 
and  the  baneful  obsession  is  dissipated — 

“  Take  a  clean  reed  and 
Measure  that  man,  and 
Make  a  reed-hat  (?),  and 
Perform  the  Incantation  of  Eridu  ;  and 
Make  the  atonement  for  the  man,  the  son  of  his  god, 

And  break  it  upon  him, 

That  it  be  his  substitute  ; 2 

That  the  evil  Spirit,  the  evil  Demon  may  stand  aside 
And  a  kindly  Spirit,  a  kindly  Guardian  be  present.”  3 

In  another  Assyrian  text,  which  is  the  part  of  the 
Seventh  Tablet  of  the  Surpu- series  hitherto  wanting  and 
unknown,  seven  loaves  of  pure  dough  form  the  medicine 
to  remove  the  tabu.  After  various  ceremonies  with  these 
the  magician  makes  an  ‘  atonement  ’  for  the  man  who  has 
fallen  sick,  and  puts  his  spittle  on  the  *  atonement/  The 
‘  atonement  ’  (i.e.  the  loaves)  is  then  to  be  carried  into  the 
desert  to  a  ‘  clean  place/  and  there,  under  one  of  the  low 
thorn  shrubs  which  are  scattered  over  such  places,  it  is  to 

1  Skeat,  Malay  Magic ,  431.  2  Dinanu. 

3  Devils ,  ii,  Tablet  VIII,  col.  i,  1.  20  ff. 


6  ATONEMENT 1  WITH  THE  BODY  OF  A  PIG.  207 


be  left.  The  1  clean  place 5  has  already  been  recognized  in 
the  Hebrew  ceremonies,  but  there  is  a  still  more  curious 
survival  of  the  Assyrian  charm  in  the  Hejaz  at  the  present 
day.  Zwemer  tells  of  a  tradition  there,  that  if  a  child  is 
very  ill  the  mother  will  take  seven  flat  loaves  of  bread  and 
put  them  under  its  pillow.  The  next  morning  these  are 
given  to  the  dogs.1 

1  Arabia ,  283.  Other  instances  of  casting  bread  to  the  dogs  after 
a  spell  in  Mesopotamia  are  given  on  pp.  169,  204.  A  parallel  occurs  in 
Exod.  xxii,  31,  “And  ye  shall  be  holy  men  to  me  :  therefore  ye  shall 
not  eat  any  flesh  that  is  torn  of  beasts  in  the  field  :  ye  shall  cast  it  to 
the  dogs.”  There  is  a  theory  that  the  “flesh  that  is  torn”  is  the  flesh 
mangled  by  wild  beasts  which  were  supposed  to  be  forms  of  Jinn  (see 
Robertson  Smith,  Rel.  Sera .,  126).  Hence  the  motive  in  both  instances 
is  practically  the  same  ;  the  bread  has  absorbed  the  tabu  of  the 
sickness-devil,  and  the  torn  flesh  has  become  contaminated  (tabu)  by 
the  afrit  of  the  j  ungle  or  desert. 

With  regard  to  the  use  of  bread,  there  is  a  curious  story  told  by 
Baldensperger  (P.F.F.,  1893,  209)  about  the  stones  called  the  Farde, 
north  of  Beit  Nuba,  which  are  traditionally  a  petrified  procession. 
A  woman  was  just  putting  her  dough  into  the  oven  when  a  procession 
went  by.  She  took  up  her  child,  and  finding  it  dirty  wiped  it  with 
a  loaf  of  bread  and  threw  the  bread  away.  The  sacredness  of  the  bread 
turned  the  whole  procession,  man  and  beast,  to  stone.  In  Sale’s  Koran 
( Prelim .  Disc.,  sect,  i,  Al  J lostatraf)  it  is  related  that  a  lump  of  dough 
was  worshipped  by  the  tribe  of  Hanifa,  “  who  used  it  with  more  respect 
than  the  Papists  do  theirs,”  presuming  not  to  eat  it  till  they  were 
compelled  to  it  by  famine.  Again  (ibid.,  sect,  ii),  the  sect  of  Colly ridians 
in  Arabia  introduced  the  Virgin  Mary  for  God,  or  worshipped  her  as 
such,  offering  her  a  sort  of  twisted  cake  called  collyris  ;  compare  the 
making  of  cakes  to  the  queen  of  heaven  in  Jer.  vii,  18.  On  the  sanctity 
of  bread  cf.  also  C.  T.  Wilson,  Peasant  Life  in  the  Holy  Land ,  54.  Its 
use,  especially  in  the  form  of  paste  or  liquid,  is  frequent  in  the  Assyrian 
inscriptions,  particularly  to  make  the  circle  which  is  tabu  to  evil  spirits. 

It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  quote  the  leavened  and  shewbread  of 
the  Old  Testament :  the  influence  of  this  is  shown  in  the  Talmud,  in 
the  directions  for  searching  the  house  on  the  eve  of  Nisan  14  to  see 
that  no  place  contains  any  leavened  bread  ( Pesachim ,  i,  1,  ed.  Schwab, 
v,  1).  On  the  sanctity  of  bread  in  Macedonia  see  Abbott,  Macedonian 
Folklore ,  103. 


208  ‘atonement’  with  the  body  oe  a  pio. 

The  next  cuneiform  ‘  atonement  ’  is  one  of  great  interest, 
as  it  goes  into  details  much  more  fully — 

“  Marduk  [hath  seen;  ‘What  I’;  ‘Go,  my  son,5  (Marduk)].1 
[Take]  a  sucking-pig  [and]  .  .  . 

[At]  the  head  of  the  sick  man  [put  it(?)  and] 

Take  out  its  heart  and 

Above  the  heart  of  the  sick  man  [put  it], 

[Sprinkle]  its  blood  on  the  sides  of  the  bed  [and] 

Divide  the  pig  over  his  limbs  and 
Spread  it  on  the  sick  man  ;  then 

Cleanse  thou  that  man  with  pure  water  from  the  Deep 

And  wash  him  clean  and 

Bring  near  him  a  censer  (and)  a  torch  ; 

Twice  seven  loaves  cooked  in  the  ashes  against  the  shut  door 
place,  and 

Give  the  pig  in  his  stead  and 
Let  the  flesh  be  as  his  flesh, 

And  the  blood  as  his  blood, 

And  let  him  hold  it ; 

Let  the  heart  be  as  his  heart 

(Which  thou  hast  placed  upon  his  heart) 

And  let  him  hold  it  ; 

,  •  •  •  •  i  •  •  •  •  • 

[That  the]  .  .  ,  may  be  in  his  stead  .  .  . 

That  the  pig  may  be  a  substitute  for  him  .  .  . 

That  the  evil  Spirit,  the  evil  Demon  may  stand  aside, 

That  a  kindly  Spirit,  a  kindly  Guardian  be  present.”2 

The  most  remarkable  parallel  to  this  spell  is  contained 
in  the  New  Testament  story  of  the  Gadarene  swine.3 
The  devils  which  possess  the  two  men  beseech  Jesus  Christ, 
if  He  cast  them  out,  to  send  them  into  the  herd  of  swine 
which  is  feeding  close  at  hand.  When  the  devils  leave 

1  On  these  abbreviations  see  Introduction. 

2  Devils ,  ii,  Tablet  ‘N,J  col.  ii,  1.  41  ff. 

3  Wellhausen  points  out  ( Reste ,  148)  that  the  word  ‘herd/ 

is  used  both  of  swine  and  demons. 


4 


PARALLEL  TO  THE  GADARENE  SWINE.  209 

the  men  and  take  up  their  abode  in  the  herd,  the  swine, 
according  to  the  story,  go  mad  and  rush  down  the  hill 
into  the  water,  w7here  they  are  drowned.  The  idea  is  quite 
in  accord  with  savage  beliefs ;  the  disease-devil  leaves  the 
man  at  the  command  of  a  higher  power,  and  is  transferred 
to  some  beast  which,  either  dead  or  alive,  acts  as  a  substitute.1 

From  the  Assyrian  incantation  it  is  easy  to  infer  that 
the  pig  was  not  ‘  unclean  ’  in  the  way  that  it  is  now  held 
to  be  by  Jews  or  Mohammedans.  The  latter  believe  that 
in  extremities  the  flesh  can  be  used  as  a  medicine,  and 
Zwemer  relates  that  Arab  patients  would  come  to  him  for 
a  small  piece  to  cure  one  in  desperate  straits.2  Swine  fat 
appears  to  have  been  also  used  in  Assyrian  medicine,3  and 
it  is  recorded  in  an  astrological  report  that  a  sow  farrowed 
with  one  of  the  piglets  double,  with  eight  legs  and  two 
tails.  The  monster  was  promptly  conserved  in  salt.4  In 
one  of  the  hemerology  texts 5  it  is  laid  down  that  if  a  man 
eats  flesh  of  swine  on  the  30th  of  Ab  (i.e.  when  the 
moon  is  invisible)  boils  will  break  out  upon  him,  or  if  he 


1  Psellus’  monk  Marcus  of  Mesopotamia  explains  that  the  devils 
entered  the  swine,  not  from  hostile  intention,  but  “from  a  vehement 
desire  for  animal  heat”  ( Dialogue  on  the  Operation  of  Daemons , 
ed.  Collisson,  1843,  35). 

2  Arabia ,  281.  On  the  sucking-pig  sacrificed  among  the  Greeks, 
see  Am.  Journ.  of  Phil.,  1900,  256  ;  for  other  instances  of  pigs  in 
magic,  see  Elworthy,  Evil  Eye ,  333  ff.  ;  on  their  unclean  or  sacred 
character,  see  Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  ii,  304 ;  in  atonement,  see  Frazer, 
Adonis,  Attis,  Osiris,  193,  note  2. 

3  Kuchler,  Assyr.-Bab.  Medizin,  86. 

4  Reports  of  the  Magicians  and  Astrologers,  ii,  xci.  Manetho  makes 
mention  of  marvels  such  as  this,  i.e.  the  birth  of  an  eight- legged  lamb 
(Wiedemann,  Religion,  265). 

5  W.A.I.,  v,  48-9.  Compare  the  views  held  about  the  pig  in  the 
Egyptian  Book  of  the  Dead,  chapter  112. 


p 


210  ‘  ATONEMENT  ’  WITH  THE  BODY  OF  A  KID. 


eats  flesh  of  swine  or  oxen  1  on  the  27th  of  Tisri  various 
things  will  happen  to  him. 

The  very  fact  that  certain  days  are  prohibited  admits  of 
the  presumption  that  pork  was  lawful  as  food  on  other 
occasions.2 3  There  is  yet  another  religious  text  prescribing 

V 

a  pig  in  the  ritual :  “  Sacrifice  a  pig  before  Samas,  (and) 

thou  shalt  imprison  their  sorceries  in  the  body  of  the  pig.”  5 
Could  anything  be  clearer  ? 

In  this  next  case,  although  the  word  kuppuru  is  not 
used,  the  ceremony  is  similar,  and  approaches  closely  to  some 
of  the  Arab  ritual  quoted  further  on — 

“  Incantation  : — 

An  evil  Fever  rests  upon  the  body  of  the  man, 

It  hath  covered  the  wanderer  as  with  a  garment, 

It  holdeth  his  hands  and  feet, 

It  racketh  his  limbs. 

The  great  Prince  Ea,  lord  of  magic, 

Of  Ea  (?)  .  -.  . 

Laid  a  kid  at  his  head  in  front  of  him, 

Unto  the  Chieftain  he  spake  (saying)  : 


1  It  is  interesting  to  see  the  ox  also  regarded  as  tabu  as  much  as  the 
pig.  It  is  well  known  that  among  certain  of  the  Semites  the  ox  was 
one  of  the  tabu-animals,  as  also  was  the  camel  (Robertson  Smith, 
Rel.  Sem,),  and  both  these  latter  are  still  so  in  Mesopotamia.  It  is 
a  great  insult  in  Mosul  to  say  that  a  man  eats  of  their  flesh.  An 
Assyrian  incantation  shows  some  tendency  towards  the  idea  of  paying 
respect  to  oxen,  perhaps  a  reminiscence  of  an  older  totem-worship  : 
“  the  great  ox,  mighty  ox,  that  treadeth  pure  fodder,  hath  come  to  the 
meadow,  raising  up  plenty,  sowing  corn,  making  bright  the  field  ;  my 
pure  hands  pour  libation  before  thee”  (T V.A.I.,  iv,  23,  1,  col.  i). 

2  Inanimate  things,  according  to  the  Moslems,  are  all  clean  and  do 
not  defile,  except  wine  and  intoxicating  drinks.  Animals  are  all  clean, 
except  the  dog  and  the  pig.  When  dead,  however,  all  animals  are 
unclean,  except  man,  fish,  locusts,  worms  in  apples,  and  insects  like 
the  fly  and  the  beetle  (Klein,  Religion  of  Islam,  122). 

3  K.  6172,  Craig,  ii,  v  ;  Fossey,  La  Magie ,  459. 


PARALLELS  FROM  THE  ARABS. 


211 


‘The  kid  is  the  substitute  for  mankind, 

.The  kid  for  his  life  he  giveth, 

The  head  of  the  kid  for  the  head  of  the  man  he  giveth, 

The  neck  of  the  kid  for  the  neck  of  the  man  he  giveth, 

The  breast  of  the  kid  for  the  breast  of  the  man  he  giveth, 

The  ...  [of  the  kid  for  the  ...  of  the  man]  he  giveth,’  1 
By  the  magic  of  the  Word  of  Ea  [  .  .  .  the  son  of  Eridu(?)], 

[Let  the  Incantation  of  the  Deep  of  Eridu  never]  be  unloosed.” 2 

Among  the  Moslems  of  the  present  day  this  form  of 
substitution  still  holds  good.  At  the  shrine  of  Abdu 
Khadir,  the  largest  mosque  in  Baghdad,  the  Indian  Moslems 
who  come  thither  on  a  pilgrimage  offer  sacrifices  there ; 
“  they  vow  that  if  a  man  who  is  ill  begins  to  recover  he 
shall  go  to  the  shrine.  He  is  stripped  to  the  waist.  Then 
two  men  lift  a  lamb  or  a  kid  above  his  head,  and  bathe  his 
face,  shoulders,  and  the  upper  part  of  his  body  with  the  blood. 
While  the  butcher  kills  the  animal  the  sheik  repeats  the 
first  sura  of  the  Horan.  They  also  wrap  him  in  the  skin 
of  the  animal.”  3  Among  the  Algerian  Jews  there  is  a  custom 
somewhat  similar.  To  cure  sickness,  they  go  with  an  Arab 
sorceress  to  a  spring,  kill  a  black  cock,  and  smear  with 
blood  the  chest,  forehead,  etc.,  of  the  patient.  Then  they 
light  a  fire  and  sprinkle  fire  and  patient  with  blood.4  In 
Palestine  it  is  the  same.  “The  very  morning  we  visited 
the  shrine  of  Nebi  Yehudah  a  goat  was  killed  for  a  woman 
of  the  Fudl  Arabs  who  was  suffering  from  fever.  They 
put  some  of  the  blood  on  her  forehead,  and  some  on  the 

1  It  is  uncertain  how  many  more  of  the  lines  ending  “  he  giveth 
were  originally  in  the  text. 

2  Devils,  ii,  Tablet  ‘N,’  col.  iii,  1.  29  ff. 

3  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Rel.  (quoting  Surur,  a  native  of  Baghdad),  205. 

4  Benjamin  II,  Eight  Years  in  Asia  and  Africa,  quoted  Jew.  Encycl ., 
xi,  600. 


212 


EXORCISM  AGAINST  HEADACHE. 


wall  of  the  makam.  The  form  of  vow  used  for  the 
restoration  of  a  child  who  is  ill  is  :  ‘  0  Nebi  Yehudah, 
have  mercy  on  this  boy,  my  son.’  ”  1  The  ninth  of  Tisri 
is  called  Ed  el-jdj  (i.e.  Feast  of  Chickens)  on  account  of 
the  number  of  chickens  slaughtered  by  the  Jews  throughout 
the  land.  “Every  individual  should  provide  himself  with 
a  chicken — its  colour  white,  if  possible — a  cock  for  every 
male,  a  hen  for  every  female,  and  for  a  pregnant 
woman  a  cock  and  two  hens,  that  is,  a  hen  for  herself  and 
one  of  each  sex  for  the  unborn  child  to  make  sure  he 
or  she  is  represented  rightly  .  .  .  The  head  of  the 
family  must  sacrifice  the  birds,  first  whirling  each  one 
three  times  around  his  head,  exclaiming  each  time :  ‘  Let 
this  cock  (or  hen)  he  an  atonement  for  me  ;  let  it  he  my 
substitute ;  let  the  bird  die  ;  but  let  life  and  happiness  be 
to  me  and  to  all  Israel.  Amen.’  He  then  kills  the  bird, 
saying,  ‘  I  have  deserved  thus  to  die.’  The  blood  is  poured 
out  on  the  ground  (as  is  always  done  when  the  Jews  kill), 
and  the  chickens  are  eaten.” 2  At  Musulleh,  where  is 
a  shrine  good  for  sore  eyes,  if  a  man  sick  with  ophthalmia 
takes  a  cock  and,  after  cutting  off  its  head,  puts  a  drop 
of  blood  in  each  eye  and  gives  the  cock  to  some  poor 
person,  he  wTill  recover.3 

Another  Assyrian  exorcism  against  headache  runs — 

“  Take  a  bundle  of  twigs  (?)  and 
At  the  confluence  of  two  streams4  take  thou  water  and 
Perform  thy  pure  incantation  over  this  water,  and 
With  thy  pure  exorcism  cleanse  and 
With  this  water  sprinkle  the  man,  son  of  his  god,  and 

1  Curtiss,  Bibl.  World ,  xxiii,  100. 

2  Masterman,  Bibl.  World ,  xxiii,  27. 

3  Curtiss,  Prim.  Bern.  Bel.,  141. 

4  A  locality  often  prescribed  as  holy  for  taking  water  ;  cf.  Devils ,  i,  lx. 


PURIFICATION  IN  ASSYRIAN. 


213 


Bind  .  .  .  upon  his  head  .  .  . 

When  he  eats,  let  him  be  sated,1 
At  eventide  cut  it  off  and 
Cast  it  into  the  broad  places 

That  the  sickness  of  his  head  may  be  assuaged,  and 
That  the  headache,  which  like  the  dew  hath  fallen,  may  be 
removed.” 2 

The  “  bundle  of  twigs  ”  (the  value  of  the  translation  is 
fairly  well  vouched  for)  occurs  also  in  another  incantation — 

“  Perform  thy  goodly  incantation  and 
Make  perfect  the  waters  thereof  with  priestcraft,  and 
With  thy  pure  incantation  do  thou  cleanse  (the  sick  man)  and 
Take  a  bundle  of  twigs  (?), 

Pour  the  waters  thereof  on  it.”  3 

The  Malagasy,  who  consider  all  disease  inflicted  by  an 
evil  spirit,  have  recourse  to  a  diviner  who  removes  the 
sickness  by  means  of  a  4  faditra  ’ ;  this  is  some  object  such 
as  a  little  grass,  ashes,  a  sheep,  a  pumpkin,  the  water  with 
which  the  patient  has  rinsed  his  mouth,  and  when  the 
priest  has  counted  on  it  the  evils  which  may  afflict  the 
patient  and  charged  the  ‘  faditra  1  to  take  them  away  for 
ever,  it  is  thrown  away,  and  the  malady  with  it.4 

The  following  is  an  excellent  instance  of  the  removal  of 
a  tabu  by  purification  and  fumigation,  where  the  ‘  tabu  ’ 
is  expelled  to  ‘  a  clean  place  ’  : — 

“  Incantation  : — 

Pure  water  .  .  . 

Water  from  the  Euphrates  which  in  a  place  .  .  . 

Water  which  hath  been  kept  aright  in  the  deep, 

The  pure  mouth  of  Ea  hath  purified  it, 

1  Translation  doubtful. 

2  Ibid.,  ii,  Tablet  *  P,’  1.  63  ff. 

3  Ibid.,  ii,  series  Luh-ka ,  Tablet  VIII,  1.  53  ff. 

4  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  4th  ed.,  vol.  ii,  p.  146,  quoting  Ellis. 


214 


PURIFICATION  IN  ASSYRIAN. 


The  Children  of  the  Deep,  seven  are  they, 

They  purify  the  water,  cleanse  it,  make  it  limpid, 

Before  your  father  Ea, 

Before  your  mother  Damkina, 

May  it  be  pure,  be  bright,  be  clean  ; 

That  the  Evil  Tongue  may  stand  aside. 

Prayer  :  Repeat  the  incantation  three  times  before  the  bowl  of  water. 

“  Incantation  :  — 

The  River  God,  brightly  shining, 

Before  whom  (is)  the  Ban,  whose  attack  like  a  demon 
Bindeth  all  lands  as  the  twilight  doth  the  heights  above, 

v  v 

May  Sam  as,  when  he  riseth,  remove  the  darkness  thereof,  that 
it  may  not  be  held  back  in  the  house, 

That  the  Ban  may  go  forth  to  the  desert,  a  clean  place. 

0  Ban,  by  heaven  be  thou  exorcised,  by  earth  be  thou  exorcised  ! 


Prayer  for  removing  the  Ban  :  fumigate  him  on  the  bank  of  a  river. 
“  Incantation  : — 

Eire- god,  chief,  high  upon  earth, 

Hero,  son  of  the  Deep,  high  upon  earth, 

0  Fire-god,  by  thy  pure  fire, 

Thou  bringest  light  into  the  house  of  darkness, 

Thou  settest  a  destiny  to  all  things  named, 

It  is  thou  that  meltest  copper  and  lead, 

It  is  thou  that  purgeth  silver  and  gold, 

It  is  thou  that  art  the  comrade  of  Ninkasi, 

It  is  thou  that  repelleth  the  evil  that  cometh  by  night. 

May  the  members  of  the  man,  son  of  his  god,  be  cleansed, 
May  he  be  bright  as  the  heaven, 

May  he  shine  like  the  earth, 

May  he  be  resplendent  as  the  midst  of  heaven  ! 

May  the  evil  tongue  (?)  [stand]  aside  ! 


Prayer  for  removing  the  Ban  .  .  .” 1 


1  W.A.I. ,  iv,  14,  2. 


‘  WIPING  AWAY ?  A  TABU  AMONG  THE  MALAYS.  215 

In  the  instances  of  purification  by  water  we  may 
perhaps  see  the  original  idea  of  ‘  wiping  ’  tabu  away,  as 
in  the  Syriac  k’phar.  In  the  Malay  ceremony  already 
quoted  (p.  205)  the  magician  ‘  wipes  away  9  the  tabu  with 
the  limes.  In  Tonga,  a  person  under  a  tabu  caused  by 
touching  a  chief  cannot  feed  himself  until  the  tabu  has 
been  removed  by  his  touching  the  soles  of  a  superior  chief’s 
feet  with  his  hands  and  then  rinsing  his  hands  in  water, 
or  (if  water  is  scarce)  rubbing  them  with  the  juice  of  the 
plantain  or  banana.  When  a  Maori  chief  became  tabu 
by  touching  the  sore  head  of  his  child,  he  would  on  the 
following  day  rub  his  hands  over  with  potato  or  fern 
root  which  had  been  cooked  over  a  sacred  fire.  This  was 
then  carried  to  the  head  of  the  family  in  the  female  line, 
who  ate  it.1 

We  can  now  return  to  the  Levitical  tabu  on  rash  oaths. 
It  is  less  clear  what  we  are  to  understand  as  the  real 
necessity  for  an  atonement  for  this.  Obviously  it  is  absurd 
to  suppose  that  the  same  offering  would  compensate  for 
oaths  involving  undertakings  of  both  extreme  difficulty  and 
extreme  triviality ;  if  this  were  so,  a  man  need  only  admit 
that  his  oath  was  a  rash  one,  and  offer  an  animal  to  be 
exempt  from  the  performance  of  any  sworn  act  of  devotion. 
From,  the  quotation  from  Lev.  v  given  below,2  it  is  plain 


1  These  are  quoted  from  Frazer’s  article  Taboo ,  Encycl.  Britannica. 

~  “And  if  any  one  sin,  in  that  he  heareth  the  voice  of  adjuration, 
he  being  a  witness,  whether  he  hath  seen  or  known,  if  he  do  not 
utter  it,  then  he  shall  bear  his  iniquity  :  or  if  any  one  touch  any 
unclean  thing,  whether  it  be  the  carcase  of  an  unclean  beast,  or  the 
carcase  of  unclean  cattle,  or  the  carcase  of  unclean  creeping  things, 
and  it  be  hidden  from  him,  and  he  be  unclean,  then  he  shall  be  guilty  : 
or  if  he  touch  the  unclean  ness  of  man,  whatsoever  his  uncleanness 
be  wherewith  he  is  unclean,  and  it  be  hid  from  him  ;  when  he 


216 


OATHS  AND  VOWS. 


that  such  oaths  are  reckoned  parallel  to  the  unclean  tabu 
of  contagion  for  which  similar  atonements  must  be  made 
to  free  the  man  from  the  ban  ;  does  a  man  who  swears  to 
perform  a  rash  act  lay  himself  under  a  tabu  until  he 
shall  have  completed  his  task?  Take  the  instances  in 
Greek  mythology,  as  Miss  Jane  Harrison,  who  recognizes  the 
same  difficulty,  has  collected  them :  “  It  is  less  obvious  at 

first  why  a^ayLa  [offerings  destroyed]  were  always  employed 
in  the  taking  of  oaths  ...  In  the  ordinary  ritual  of 
the  taking  of  oaths,  the  oath-taker  actually  stood  upon 
the  pieces  of  the  slaughtered  animal  .  .  .  Tyndareus 

sacrificed  a  horse  and  made  Helen’s  suitors  take  an  oath, 
causing  them  to  stand  on  the  cut-up  pieces  of  the  horse — 
having:  made  them  take  the  oath,  he  buried  the  horse  .  .  . 
It  was  said  Herakles  had  given  an  oath  to  the  sons  of 
Neleus  on  the  cut  pieces  of  a  boar  ...”  Pausanias 
says,  “  ‘  With  the  men  of  old  days  the  rule  was  as  regards 
a  sacrificial  animal  on  which  an  oath  had  been  taken  that 
it  should  be  no  more  accounted  as  eatable  for  men.’  ” 
Miss  Harrison  explains  the  custom  of  standing  on  the 
fragments  of  the  victim  as  pointing  “  clearly  to  the 
identification  of  oath-taker  and  sacrifice.  The  victim  was 
hewn  in  bits;  so  if  the  oath-taker  perjure  himself  will 
he  be  hewn  in  bits.”  1  I  venture  with  diffidence  to  put 

knoweth  of  it,  then  he  shall  be  guilty  :  or  if  any  one  swear  rashly  with 
his  lips  to  do  evil,  or  to  do  good,  whatsoever  it  be  that  a  man  shall 
utter  rashly  with  an  oath,  and  it  be  hid  from  him  ;  when  he  knoweth 
of  it,  then  he  shall  be  guilty  in  one  of  these  things  :  and  it  shall  be, 
when  he  shall  be  guilty  in  one  of  these  things,  that  he  shall  confess 
that  wherein  he  hath  sinned  :  and  he  shall  bring  his  guilt  offering 
unto  Yahweh  for  his  sin  which  he  hath  sinned,  a  female  from  the 
flock,  a  lamb  or  a  goat,  for  a  sin  offering  ;  and  the  priest  shall  make 
atonement  for  him  as  concerning  his  sin.” 

1  J.  E.  Harrison,  Prolegomena ,  66. 


OATHS  AND  YOWS. 


217 


forward  another  explanation  in  view  of  the  Biblical  law. 
The  oath-taker  calls  some  supernatural  power  1  to  witness 
that  he  makes  a  promise  ;  he  hereby  renders  himself  tabu 
for  some  reason,  as  the  Levitical  parallels  show.  Consonant 
with  the  rules  for  other  unclean  tabus,  he  presents  an 
*  atonement ’  to  rid  himself  of  this  tabu,  to  admit  of  his 
continuing  as  an  ordinary  member  of  society  in  intercourse 
with  his  fellows  ;  it  does  not  exempt  him  from  the  necessity 
of  carrying  out  his  vow,  it  merely  (to  the  savage  mind) 
removes  the  contagious  tabu  which  he  has  incurred  by  the 
act  of  invoking  divine  power.  It  is  a  savage  analogy,  but 
I  think  a  plausible  explanation.  The  Greek  instances  are 
clear  ;  at  the  very  moment  the  vow  is  taken  the  oath-taker 
kills  the  beast,  which  is  not  used  as  food,  and  hence  cannot 
be  considered  as  a  feast  shared  with  the  god  he  has 
invoked.  It  is  made  away  with  as  charged  with  dangerous 
influence,  just  as  the  ‘  unclean ’  atonements  are  in  the 
Hebrew  law.  Jevons’  remarks  on  oaths  are  distinctly 
pertinent  here :  “  Probably  the  earliest  oaths  are  those 
of  ‘  compurgation/  and  the  person  thus  freeing  himself 
from  the  charge  made  against  him  does  so  by  voluntarily 
making  himself  taboo,  by  ‘eating  fetish’  or  otherwise 
devoting  himself  to  the  god.”  2 

Lastly,  the  sins  committed  *  wittingly  ’  (cases  e  and  f) 
were  all  cleansed  by  an  atonement.  Both  in  Leviticus 
and  the  Surpu -series  offences  indicating  more  serious 

1  The  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  word  for  ‘  swearing  ’is  ‘to  come 
under  the  influence  of  seven  things’  (see  Robertson  Smith,  Rel.  & 'em., 
182  ;  Wellhausen,  Reste ,  18fi),  possibly  to  repeat  a  promise  seven  times 
(the  magical  number).  Compare  the  Assyrian  sibitti  su  ana  pan  ereb 
iht  Samsi  mamit  su-ut-me  (Martin,  Textes  Relig.,  1900,  28). 

2  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Religion ,  2nd  ed.,  1902,  64  ff. 


218 


PRESUMPTUOUS  SINS. 


misdeeds  than  the  mere  infringement  of  a  tabu  are  placed 
side  by  side  with  breaches  of  ‘  uncleanness/  Yet  in  the 
Assyrian  series  either  is  recognized  as  the  possible  cause 
of  sickness  in  man,  and  in  the  Hebrew  law  both  demand 
an  ‘  atonement/  Some  are  undoubtedly  the  direct 
descendants  of  breaches  of  the  demon-tabus,  and  others 
are  clearly  offences  against  holy  things  belonging  to  the 
tribal  god.  Two  explanations  are  therefore  open  to  us. 
One  is  that  every  breach  of  tabu  was  visited  by  demoniac 
possession,  either  directly  or  through  the  divine  wrath 
which  caused  angels  and  ministers  to  inflict  their  plagues 
on  men.  The  other  is  that  as  religious  beliefs  grew  and 
the  origins  were  forgotten,  men  brought  ‘  atonements  ’ 
for  every  breach  of  tabu,  arguing  by  analogy  that  they 
could  remove  the  risk  of  punishment  by  what  ultimately 
was  regarded  as  a  piacular  offering.  The  original  object 
of  the  i  atonement  ’  was  disregarded,  and,  as  undoubtedly 
appears  in  the  Old  Testament,  the  carcases  of  beasts 
slaughtered  as  substitutes  to  attract  the  plague-devil  became 
the  offerings  of  men  guilty  of  presumptuous  ‘  sin.’  The 
last  stage  is  reached  when  the  carcase  is  eaten  by  the 
priests  as  though  it  were  an  ordinary  sacrifice. 

Originally,  then,  we  may  presume,  from  the  meaning  of 
the  word  k’phar  in  connection  with  savage  methods  of 
cleansing  tabu,  that  the  4  atonement '  ceremony  was  intended 
to  wash  away  a  demoniac  or  ‘  sin  ’  tabu  in  water.  In  other 
words,  the  demon  was  to  be  transferred  to  water  and  thus 
removed.  In  addition  to  this  we  have  the  ‘  sin  ’  offering, 
which  was  originally  a  beast  substituted  for  the  man  whom 
the  demon  had  attacked,  which  was  intended  to  receive 
the  devil  after  he  had  been  exorcised. 


219 


y. 

THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  FIRSTBORN. 


One  of  the  most  interesting  problems  in  Semitic  folklore 
is  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the  firstborn-substitution. 
Yahweh  is  related  to  have  said :  “  Sanctify  unto  me  all 
the  firstborn,  whatsoever  openeth  the  womb  among  the 
children  of  Israel,  both  of  man  and  of  beast :  it  is  mine.”  1 
This  is  amplified  elsewhere  :  2  “  Thou  shalt  set  apart  unto 
Yahweh  all  that  openeth  the  womb,  and  every  firstling 
which  thou  hast  that  cometh  of  a  beast ;  the  males  shall 
be  Yahweh’s.  And  every  firstling  of  an  ass  thou  shalt 
redeem  with  a  lamb ;  and  if  thou  wilt  not  redeem  it,  then 
thou  shalt  break  its  neck  :  and  all  the  firstborn  of  man 
among  thy  sons  thou  shalt  redeem.”  In  Numbers 3  the 
law  is  thus  laid  down  :  “  Every  thing  that  openeth  the 
womb,  of  all  flesh,  which  they  offer  unto  Yahweh,  both 
of  man  and  beast,  shall  be  thine  (Aaron’s)  :  nevertheless 
the  firstborn  of  man  shalt  thou  surely  redeem,  and  the 
firstling  of  unclean  beasts  shalt  thou  redeem.  And  those 
that  are  to  be  redeemed  of  them  from  a  month  old  shalt 
thou  redeem,  according  to  thine  estimation,  for  the  money 
of  five  shekels,  after  the  shekel  of  the  sanctuary  (the  same 
is  twenty  gerahs).  But  the  firstling  of  an  ox,  or  the 
firstling  of  a  sheep,  or  the  firstling  of  a  goat,  thou  shalt 
not  redeem ;  they  are  holy :  thou  shalt  sprinkle  their  blood 


1  Exocl.  xiii,  2. 


2  Ibid.,  12  ff. 


3  xviii,  15  ff. 


220 


TRADITIONAL  ORIGINS  OF  REDEMPTION. 


upon  the  altar,  and  shalt  burn  their  fat  for  an  offering 
made  by  fire,  for  a  sweet  savour  unto  Yahweh.” 

One  tradition  (Jehovist)  assigns  the  origin  of  this  custom 
to  the  smiting  of  the  firstborn  in  Egypt:  “For  all  the 
firstborn  are  mine ;  on  the  day  that  I  smote  all  the 
firstborn  in  the  land  of  Egypt  I  hallowed  unto  me  all 
the  firstborn  in  Israel,  both  man  and  beast  :  mine  shall 
they  be:  I  am  Yahweh.”1  A  second  (Elohist) 2 * *  legend 
of  the  substitution  of  a  ram  for  the  sacrifice  of  the  firstborn 
is  the  more  primitive  story  of  Abraham  and  Isaac.  As 
an  additional  story  Jephthah’s  vow  may  be  cited,  in  which 
a  female  (firstborn)  is  dedicated.  In  this  case,  however, 
no  redemption  is  spoken  of,  the  statement  being  that  he 
did  with  her  according  to  the  vow  he  had  vowed. 

It  is  therefore  clear  that  two  different  traditions, 
apparently  of  an  academic  nature,  had  sprung  up  at  a  very 
early  time  to  explain  what  was  a  fundamental  custom 
among  the  Hebrews.  It  was  allowed  to  the  tribe  to 
substitute  a  firstborn  beast  for  a  firstborn  child,  which 
was  clearly  held  to  belong  to  the  tribal  god ;  what  is  more, 
from  the  passage  in  Num.  xviii,  15,  ‘  unclean  ’  beasts 
were  the  ‘  property  5  of  the  deity,  and  had  to  be  redeemed. 
When  this  passage  is  taken  into  account  with  the  ass 
of  Exod.  xiii,  13,  which  was  to  be  redeemed  with  a  lamb, 
or  be  killed  by  having  its  neck  broken,  it  seems  clear 
that  the  passage  about  the  ‘  unclean  ’  beasts  has  descended 
from  a  time  when  such  beasts  (i.e.  totems)  were  held 


1  Num.  iii,  13. 

2  Gen.  xxii,  l  ff.  Yah  well  does  not  occur  in  the  story  except  in  the 

name  of  the  place,  Jehovah-jireh,  its  explanation,  the  “  ar.gel  of 

Yahweh,”  and  the  epilogue. 


SACRIFICE  OF  TOTEMS. 


221 


eligible  for  sacrifice.1  Now  this  must  have  been  before 
the  idea  of  unclean  came  m,  at  a  time  when  the  various 
Semitic  tribes  regarded  the  tabu-beasts  of  the  Old  Testament 
laws  as  their  totems.  If  this  argument  has  any  weight, 
the  parallelism  in  the  case  of  the  firstborn  babe  is  obvious  ; 
it  was  a  human  sacrifice  from  those  early  times  when  the 
distinctions  between  the  classes  of  life,  beast  or  man,  were 
not  so  finely  drawn.2  This  is  nothing  new;  Frazer  has 
clearly  demonstrated  that  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  plainly 
regarded  the  firstborn  of  men  and  the  firstlings  of 
animals  as  His  own,3  and  he  says,4  “we  know  that  the 
Semites  were  in  the  habit  of  sacrificing  some  of  the  children, 
generally  the  firstborn,  either  as  a  tribute  regularly  due 
to  the  deity 5  or  to  appease  his  anger  in  seasons  of  public 
danger  or  calamity.” 

It  is  unnecessary  to  quote  all  the  well-known  instances 
of  human  sacrifice  at  length.6  We  may,  however,  mention 


1  On  the  grave  occasions  when  this  was  permissible.  On  the  custom 

of  killing  the  totem  on  occasions  of  grave  stress  see  Frazer,  Totemism ,  7  ; 
he  maintains  that  the  totem  sacrament  has  become  a  well-authenticated 
fact  ( Golden  Bough ,  2nd  ed.,  i,  xix). 

There  is  no  necessity  to  go  into  the  details  of  this  kinship  between 
man  and  beast  ;  it  is  a  well-recognized  form  of  primitive  belief,  and 
shows  itself  in  later  ages  in  gods  that  are  half  beast,  and  in  omens  and 
tales  of  women  bringing  forth  animals. 

Golden  Bough ,  ii,  45.  4  Adonis ,  Attis,  Osiris,  34. 

5  On  this  compare  Robertson  Smith,  Bel.  Bern.,  463  :  “  Yet  .  .  . 
it  seems  absolutely  impossible  that,  at  the  very  early  date  when  the 
Hebrews  and  Arabs  lived  together,  any  tribute  could  have  been 
paid  to  the  god  as  chief  or  king  ;  and  even  in  the  form  of  the  sacrifice 
of  firstlings  which  is  found  among  the  Hebrews,  there  seem  to  be 
indications  that  the  parallelism  with  the  offering  of  first-fruits  is  less 
complete  than  at  first  sight  it  seems  to  be.”  Nowack,  however,  in  his 
Lehrhuch  dev  Hehr.  Arch.,  1894,  ii,  255,  says  :  “  Wie  die  Erstgeburt 
vom  Vieh,  so  gehoren  Jahve  auch  die  Erstlinge  von  den  Feldfruchten.” 

6  Sir  John  Marsham,  in  the  seventeenth  century  in  his  Chronicum 


222 


TRADITION  OF  THE  ORIGIN  OF  MAGIC. 


some  additional  examples  which  may  be  of  use  in  our 
argument.  There  is  an  interesting  tradition  in  Bezold’s 
Schatzhohle ,l  how  in  the  ninetieth  year  of  Terah  magic 
appeared  on  the  earth  in  the  city  of  Ur,  which  Horon 
the  son  of  Eber  had  built.  A  rich  inhabitant  died,  and 
his  son  made  an  image  of  gold  to  put  over  the  grave, 
and  posted  a  watcher.  Then  came  Satan  and  took  up 
Lis  abode  in  the  image,  speaking  to  the  young  man  as 
though  it  were  his  father;  and  one  day  thieves  stole 
everything  belonging  to  the  young  man,  who  came  to 

(76-78,  300-304),  mentions  the  instances  of  the  Phoenicians  sacrificing 
to  Saturn  one  of  the  dearest  of  their  people  (Philo,  Bib.  ex  Sanchon .), 
the  Dumatii  in  Arabia  who,  Diodorus  says,  sacrificed  a  child  e\ery 
year,  and  other  cases  of  human  sacrifices.  He  gives  Porphyry’s  story 
(p.  301)  that  Amosis  abolished  the  law  for  the  slaying  of  men  at 
Heliopolis  in  Egypt,  as  Manetho  bears  witness  in  his  book  of  Antiquity 
and  Piety.  They  were  sacrificed  to  Juno,  and  were  examined,  as  were 
the  pure  calves  that  were  also  sealed  with  them  ;  they  were  sacrificed 
three  in  a  day.  In  whose  stead  Amosis  commanded  that  men  of  wax, 
of  the  same  number,  should  be  substituted.  Another  (p.  77),  also  from 
Porphyry,  is  the  story  of  Cronus  “  [whom  the  Phoenicians  name  Israel 
(it  should  be  II)],”  who  had  by  a  nymph  named  Anobret  an  only- 
begotten  son,  and  he  in  dread  of  great  dangers  adorned  this  son  with 
royal  apparel  and  offered  him  in  sacrifice.  Whiston,  in  his  Josephus 
(840  ffi),  has  collected  the  following  passages  bearing  on  human  sacrifice 
in  the  Old  Testament:  Lev.  xx,  2;  Deut.  xii,  30,  31  ;  xviii,  18;  2  Kings 
xvi,  3  ;  xvii,  31  ;  xxiii,  10  ;  Ps.  cvi,  37,  38  ;  Jer.  vii,  30-32  ;  xix,  3-5  ; 
xxxii,  35  ;  Ezek.  xvi,  20,  21  ;  Wisd.  xii,  4-6.  See  also  Daumer, 
Le  Culte  de  Moloch ,  1842,  ed.  Ewerbeck,  Qu'est-ce  que  la  Bible ,  1850,  2  : 
“  L’ancienne  religion  de  Mo'ise,  avant  d’etre  radoucie,  ordonnait  de  tuer 
sans  exception,  en  l’honneur  du  Moloch- Jehovah,  les  premices  du  sexe 
masculin  parmi  les  animaux  et  a  plus  forte  raison  parmi  les  homines,” 
He  is  excellent  in  his  anthropological  comparisons  of  human  sacrifice 
(p.  18,  e.g.,  the  eldest  son  in  Florida,  quoted  from  Majer,  Diet,  de  la 
Mythologie,  ii,  91),  although  his  philology  is  at  fault  (pp.  24,  27). 
See  also  Ghillanys,  1842  (ed.  Ewerbeck,  ibid.),  Les  Sacrifices  humains 
cliez  les  Hebreux ,  207  ;  especially  among  the  Semites  “  race  anthro- 
pothyste  par  excellence”  (p.  216). 

1  p.  32. 


THE  QUESTION  OF  HUMAN  SACRIFICE  IN  ASSYRIA.  223 


his  father’s  grave  in  tears.  Satan  thereupon  promised 
that  all  should  be  restored  if  only  the  young  man  would 
sacrifice  his  little  son,  which  he  did.  Then  Satan  came 
forth  and  entered  into  the  young  man  and  taught  him 
magic,  incantation,  divinations,  Chaldeeism,  destinies,  haps, 
and  fates.”  And  from  that  time  on  men  began  to  sacrifice 
their  children  to  demons  and  to  worship  idols.  There 
are  also  stories  told  of  such  sacrifice  among  the  Sabians.1 

The  existence  of  human  sacrifice  among  the  Babylonians 
and  Assyrians  is  not  easy  to  prove  satisfactorily.  Jeremias  2 
considers  it  to  be  the  probability  that  “the  Babylonians 
practised  human  sacrifice  secretly  without  formally  taking 
it  up  into  the  recognised  worship,”  a  remark  which  I  must 
confess  I  am  unable  to  understand  fully.  Is  it  meant 
to  apply  to  those  peoples  at  all  periods  of  the  four 
thousand  years  which  we  know  of  them?  What  should 
be  their  object  in  practising  it  secretly  p  The  remark 
seems  to  be  such  a  vague  and  unsubstantiated  depreciation 
of  the  enemies  of  Israel  that  it  is  no  help  to  any  scientific 
investigation. 

In  18/5  Professor  Sayce0  published  two  texts  which  he 
considered  proved  the  existence  of  human  sacrifice  amono- 
the  Babylonians,  but  his  views  were  combated  and  refuted 
by  Ball 4  in  1892.  One  of  these  texts  was  from  an 

1  En-Nedhn ,  i,  v,  §  5,  Chwolsohn,  Die  Ssabier ,  ii,  28.  M.  0.  de 
Percival  (ii,  101,  quoted  Hughes,  Diet,  of  Islam ,  184)  mentions  a 
Ghassanide  prince  who  was  sacrificed  to  Venus  by  Munzir,  king  of 
Hira\  Psellus  (eleventh  century),  in  his  Dialogue  on  tin  Operation  of 
Daemons  (ed.  Collisson,  1843,  p.  25),  speaks  of  the  sexual  orgies  among 
the  Euchitse  and  the  Gnosti  “  at  the  time  when  we  celebrate  the 
Passion  of  our  Lord,77  and  how  they  sacrificed  their  unnatural  offspring 
nine  months  later. 

2  Encycl.  Bibl ,  4122.  3  p.S.B.A.,  iv,  1875,  29. 

4  P.S.B.A.,  xiv,  1892,  149. 


224  THE  QUESTION  OF  HUMAN  SACRIFICE  IN  ASSYRIA. 

omen  tablet  which  Sayce  translated  “When  the  Air-god 
(is)  fine,  prosperity.  On  the  high  places  the  son  is 
burnt.’ ’  This,  however,  is  incorrect,  and  Ball’s  translation, 
though  not  exact,  was  accurate  enough  to  disprove  the 
sacrifice  theory — “The  rain  of  Rimmon  is  violent;  the 
sprouting  gram  on  the  ridges  (or  terraced  slopes)  is 
minished,  is  laid  bare(P).”1  The  second  text  is  that 
given  in  this  book  on  p.  210,  and  Professor  Sayce  maintained 
as  late  as  1902  2  that  his  interpretation  still  held  good  as 
seeming  to  show  that  the  firstborn  of  man  was  included 
among  the  sacrifices  that  were  deemed  acceptable  to  heaven. 
This  depended  on  his  translation  of  urisu,  ‘offspring,’ 
which  Ball  (loc.  cit.)  in  1892  had  challenged,  and  substituted 
«  fatling  ’  for  it.  Hence  we  have  as  yet  no  proof  of  human 

sacrifice  from  Assyrian  ritual  tablets. 

Again,  a  great  deal  too  much  stress,  I  think,  has  been 
laid  on  the  witness  of  seal-cylinders.  It  is  frequently 
very  difficult  to  explain  the  subjects  engraved  on  them, 
and  the  representation  of  the  slaughter  of  human  beings, 
even  when  a  god  is  shown  to  be  present,  is  not  necessarily 
human  sacrifice.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  seal-cylinders 
published  by  Menant3  or  Ball4  for  the  evidence  of  such 


1  The  text  runs  enuma  ilu  Adad  pi-sit  inadi  se-gu-um  ina  kislah-mes 
isahhar  (tur)  a-ru-ur,  and  has  therefore  reference  to  thunder,  not  rain. 
The  last  word  arur  I  should  prefer  to  translate  ‘  is  scorched.’  Ball’s 
interpretation  ‘is  minished’  {isahhar)  is  perfectly  correct,  as  it  is 
a  word  frequently  used  in  these  texts  in  this  connection. 

2  Gifford  Lectures ,  467.  Even  were  the  meaning  ‘  (human)  offspring  ’ 
possible,  there  would  then  he  no  support  that  it  meant  ‘firstborn.’ 
I  think,  however,  no  one,  on  reading  the  incantation,  can  now  believe 
that  there  is  any  question  of  human  sacrifice. 

3  Recherches  sur  la  Glyptigue  Orieiitale ,  150  ;  Catalogue  J)e  Clencg , 

Nos.  176-82. 

4  P.S.B.A. ,  xiv,  1892,  149. 


MODERN  CUSTOMS  OF  REDEMPTION. 


225 


a  custom  can  really  be  admitted  as  final  proof.  That 
many  of  them  depict  the  slaying  of  men  is  quite  clear; 
but  that  this  can  be  shown  to  be  sacrifice  is  quite  a  different 
matter. 

The  fact  is,  human  sacrifice  goes  out  in  proportion  as 
civilization  comes  in,  and  probably  by  the  time  men  are 
able  to  commit  their  religious  ritual  to  writing  human 
sacrifice  has  ceased  to  be  a  regular  or  periodic  rite.  It 
may  appear  sporadically,  as  an  actual  occurrence,  in  historic 
texts ;  but  it  will  probably  have  been  entirely  eliminated 
from  any  written  ceremonial  which  represents  the  belief 
of  the  majority.  When  a  conqueror  has  himself  portrayed 
hewing  captives  in  pieces  before  his  god,  the  reason  is 
far  more  likely  to  be  diplomatic  than  religious.  At  any 
rate,  it  is  a  far  different  form  of  sacrifice  from  a  propitiatory 
offering  of  one’s  own  tribe,  which  was  probably  a  custom 
descended  from  a  cannibal  feast.  The  more  civilized  the 
community  the  more  abhorrent  does  human  sacrifice 
become,  and  just  as  the  Assyrians  were  the  highest 
civilized  of  all  the  Semitic  nations  before  our  era,  so  in 
proportion  will  the  fewest  traces  of  this  custom  exist 
in  their  records.  Hence  it  is  extremely  improbable  that 
any  ritual  will  be  found  describing  human  sacrifice,  or 
any  record  that  proves  its  existence  except  as  a  sporadic 
occurrence. 

From  the  ancient  tradition  we  may  turn  to  the  modern 
customs.  Among  the  Jews  in  Palestine  the  firstborn  son 
is  redeemed  to-day  as  of  old.  A  priest  takes  from  his 
parents  the  price  of  this  redemption,  the  sum  being  about 
eighteen  shillings,  after  receiving  which  the  priest  holds 
the  money  over  the  head  of  the  child,  and  says  in  Hebrew — 
“  This  instead  of  that,  this  in  exchange  for  that,  this  in 


226 


MODERN  CUSTOMS  OF  REDEMPTION. 


remission  of  that.  May  this  child  enter  into  life,  into 
the  law,  and  into  the  fear  of  heaven  !  May  it  be  God’s 
will  that  whereas  he  has  been  admitted  to  redemption,  so 
may  he  enter  into  the  law,  the  nuptial  canopy,  and  into 
good  deeds  !  Amen.”  He  then  places  his  hand  on  the 
child’s  head  and  gives  the  priestly  blessing.1  It  is  sig¬ 
nificant,  by  the  way,  that  the  modern  Semites,  while  they 
do  not  lay  their  hands  upon  the  head  of  the  sacrifice  in 
ordinary  cases,  yet  they  do  lay  their  hands  on  it  if  someone 
else  kills  it.2 

At  a  shrine  near  Beirut  sheep,  goats,  and  bullocks  are 
sacrificed  in  payment  of  vows.  The  formula  used  is  “  I  kill 
this  sheep  as  a  fedu  for  Abdullah.”  The  slayer  dips  his 
index  finger  in  blood  and  daubs  it  on  the  forehead  of  the 
one  for  whom  the  vow  was  made,  and  he  steps  over  the 
blood.3 

The  modern  Arab  fedu  ceremonies  offer  a  close  parallel. 
“The  servant  of  the  ‘Chair’  at  Zebedani  related  the 
following :  ‘  The  mother  of  a  boy,  when  she  slaughters 
a  sacrifice  vowed  on  his  behalf,  takes  some  of  the  blood 
and  puts  it  on  his  skin.  They  call  the  sacrifice  fedou. 
Taking  the  blood  from  the  place  where  the  sacrifice  is 
slaughtered  is  equivalent  to  taking  the  blessing  of  the 
place  and  putting  it  on  the  child.’  ” 4  Similarly,  “  they 
go  through  the  opening  sura  of  the  Koran,  address  the 
spirits  (< el-Aktab ),  and  say,  ‘  This  is  from  thee  and  unto 
thee  (God),  and,  0  God,  receive  it  from  such  an  one,  the 
son  of  such  a  mother,  as  a  redemption  {fedou)  in  behalf 

1  Masterman,  Bibl.  World ,  xxii,  250.  On  putting  blood  on  doorposts 
in  Palestine  see  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Ret .,  181,  188. 

2  Curtiss,  loc.  cit.,  149.  3  Curtiss,  Bibl.  World ,  xxiii,  332. 

4  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Rel .,  200. 


MODERN  CUSTOMS  OF  REDEMPTION. 


227 


of  him/  This  sacrifice  is  a  sacrifice  of  thankse/vino’ 

o  o 

looking  backward/’  1  In  Arabia,  if  one  sacrifice  for 
health,  the  death  of  the  ewe  or  the  goat  they  think  to 
be  accepted  in  exchange  for  the  camel’s  life  or  his  own 
life,  life  for  life.2  In  Syria  they  kill  animals  3  on  behalf 
of  the  dead,  for  the  spirit,  calling  them  fedu.  These 
sacrifices  go  before  the  deceased  as  light,  to  serve  him  in 
the  next  life  as  he  approaches  Gfod,  becoming  a  kaff&rah 
for  his  sins.4 

The  “  sacrifice  between  the  feet”  is  made  in  Palestine 
on  behalf  of  a  pilgrim  on  his  return  from  Mekka,  Jerusalem, 
or  for  some  one  who  has  been  a  long  way  away  from 
home.  “The  ceremony  consists  in  a  sheep  or  a  goat 
being  slaughtered  for  the  one  who  returns.  Just  before 
he  enters  the  door  of  the  house  he  stands  with  his  legs 
spread  out  so  that  there  is  room  for  the  victim  to  be 
placed  between  them.”  The  victim’s  throat  is  cut,  and 
some  of  the  blood  is  put  on  his  forehead.  If  he  is  a 
Christian,  it  is  marked  in  the  sign  of  a  cross.5 

1  Curtiss,  Prim.  Rem.  Rel.,  196.  2  Doughty,  Arabia  Deserta,  i,  452. 

3  At  Rome,  according  to  Ovid,  each  father  of  a  family,  as  the  festival 
of  the  Lemuria  came  round  and  all  was  still,  arose,  and  standing 
with  bare  feet  he  made  a  special  sign  with  his  fingers  and  thumb  to 
keep  off  any  ghost.  Thrice  he  washes  his  hands  in  spring  water,  then 
he  turns  round  and  takes  black  beans  into  his  mouth  ;  with  face 
averted  he  spits  them  away,  and  as  he  spits  them  says,  “  These  I  send 
forth,  with  these  beans  I  redeem  myself  and  mine”  (J.  E.  Harrison, 
Prolegomena ,  35).  There  is  a  story  told  of  Al-Nooman,  surnamed  Abu 

Kabfis,  who  in  a  drunken  fit  ordered  two  of  his  intimate  companions  to 
be  buried  alive.  When  he  came  to  himself  he  was  so  grieved  that  he 
set  aside  two  days,  on  one  of  which  he  sacrificed  whomsoever  he  might 
meet,  and  sprinkled  the  blood  on  the  monument  he  erected  to  them  ; 
on  the  other,  he  that  met  him  was  dismissed  with  safety  with  magnificent 
gifts  (Sale,  Koran,  Prelim.  Disc.,  sect.  i). 

4  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Rel.,  178. 


5  Ibid.,  177. 


228 


THE  FEDU, 


When  a  man  finishes  a  house,  he  makes  a  sacrifice  on 
the  doorstep  as  a  redemption  for  the  building.  “  Every 
house  must  have  its  death,  a  man,  woman,  child,  or 
animal.1  God  has  appointed  a  fedou  for  every  building 
through  sacrifice.  If  God  has  accepted  the  sacrifice,  he 
has  redeemed  the  house.”2  According  to  an  orthodox 
Moslem,  on  moving  from  house  to  house,  or  in  occupying 
a  new  building,  a  man  will  kill  the  fedou  the  first  night 
that  he  sleeps  therein;  “  the  object  is  the  bursting  forth 
of  blood  unto  the  face  of  God.  .  .  .  It  is  for  himself 

and  family  a  redemption.  It  keeps  off  disease  and  the 
jinn.”3  The  sJiekh  of  Kafr  Harib,  above  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  explained  to  Mr.  Curtiss  that  the  people  sacrifice 
a  victim  on  the  threshold  for  the  new  house,  “because 
every  place,  land,  or  spot  on  the  earth  has  its  own  dwellers, 
lest  one  of  the  family  die  in  this  land.  Because  it  is  not 
theirs,  they  redeem  the  family  by  a  fedou ,  one  or  all.  4  In 
Hums,  if  a  man  has  bought  a  new  house  and  its  inhabitants 
had  been  unlucky,  the  owner  will  make  some  change, 
such  as  taking  up  an  old  stone  on  the  threshold  and 
laying  a  new  one  in  its  place.  Then  the  sacrifice  is 
offered  on  that  threshold,  the  people  calling  it  “  presenting 
a  kaffarah .” 5 


1  In  Borneo  there  is  a  custom  of  making  holes  to  receive  the  posts, 
and  men  are  killed  and  placed  therein,  “  so  that  the  house  being  founded 
in  blood  may  stand  ”  (McLennan,  Studies ,  22).  Compare  J oshua  vi,  26, 
“  With  the  loss  of  his  firstborn  shall  he  lay  the  foundation  thereof,  and 
with  the  loss  of  his  youngest  son  shall  he  set  up  the  gates  of  it.”  The 
Malays  sacrifice  a  fowl,  a  goat,  or  a  buffalo  in  such  a  case  (Skeat, 
Malay  Magic ,  143).  .  2  Curtiss,  loc.  cit.,  196. 

3  ibid.,  197.  4  Curtiss,  Bibl.  World ,  xxi,  253. 

5  Ibid.,  254.  For  the  sacrifice  for  a  tent  see  loc.  cit.,  253.  On 
building  rites  generally  see  Gittee,  Melusine ,  iii,  497 ;  feartori,  Das 
Bauopfer ,  Zeits.  f  ur  Ethnol .,  1898,  xxx,  1  ff. 


THE  ’ AKIKAE . 


229 


According  to  Robertson  Smith,1  among  the  Arabs  in 
the  time  of  Mohammed  it  was  common  to  sacrifice  a  sheep 
on  the  birth  of  a  child,  and  then  to  shave  the  head  of  the 
infant  and  daub  the  scalp  with  the  blood  of  the  victim. 
This  ceremony,  called  ’akikah,  or  ‘the  cutting  of  the  hair,’ 
was  designed  to  avert  evil  from  the  child,  and  was  evidently 
an  act  of  dedication  by  which  the  infant  was  brought  under 
the  protection  of  the  god  of  the  community.  Lane  describes 
the  ’  aJak  ah'  ceremony  thus  (the  parallel  with  the  Assyrian 
texts  quoted  on  pp.  208,  211  being  very  striking)  :  “  The 
person  should  say,  on  slaying  the  victim,  ‘ 0  God,  verily 
this  akeekah  is  a  ransom  for  my  son,  such  a  one ;  its  blood 
for  his  blood,  and  its  flesh  for  his  flesh,  and  its  bone  for  his 
bone,  and  its  skin  for  his  skin,  and  its  hair  for  his  hair. 
0  God,  make  it  a  ransom  for  my  son  from  hell-fire.’  A  bone 
of  the  victim  should  not  be  broken.”2  In  Nebk  they  offer 
sacrifice  for  a  boy  when  seven  days  old  without  breaking 
bones,  lest  the  child’s  bones  also  be  broken.3 

In  Arabia  Doughty  noticed  a  custom  that,  when  a  man 
child  was  born,  the  father  would  slay  an  ewe,  but  would 
give  nothing  for  a  female.4  Similar  in  idea  to  this  is  the 
custom  in  some  localities  (in  Palestine)  that  only  male 
animals  should  be  used  in  sacrifices.  The  Nusairiyeh  and 
Ismailiyeh  consider  females  unfit  for  food  or  for  sacrifice.5 
This  is  probably  due  to  a  natural  economy,  which  holds 
the  female  more  valuable  than  the  male. 

1  Religion  of  the  Semites ,  328.  See  Kinship,  152.  See  also  on  the 
akikah ,  Wellhausen,  Reste  Arabischen  Heide  n turns,  174. 

2  Arabian  Nights ,  chap,  iv,  note  No.  24. 

3  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Rel.,  178. 

4  Arabia  Deserta,  i,  452. 

5  Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Rel.,  p.  173, 


230  SUBSTITUTION  AMONG  OTHER  NATIONS. 

It  was  clearly  not  confined  to  tlie  Semites.  “  There  was 
a  sanctuary  of  Artemis  at  Munychia.  A  bear  came  into 
it  and  was  killed  by  the  Athenians.  A  famine  followed, 
and  the  god  gave  an  oracle  that  the  famine  should  cease 
if  someone  would  sacrifice  his  daughter  to  the  goddess. 
Embaros  was  the  only  man  who  promised  to  do  it,  on 
condition  that  he  and  his  family  should  have  the  priesthood 
for  life.  He  disguised  his  daughter  and  hid  her  in  the 
sanctuary,  and  dressed  a  goat  in  a  garment  and  sacrificed 
it  as  his  daughter.”  1 

Among  the  Malays,  “if  the  spirit  craves  a  human  victim 
a  cock  may  be  substituted.”  2 

Finally,  we  may  turn  to  a  curious  instance  of  sacrificial 
substitution  closely  allied  to  this.  It  is  related  in  the 
royal  annals  of  Sennacherib  that,  when  that  king  went 
down  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  he  offered  gifts  to  Ea,  the  lord 
of  the  sea — 

“  Before  them  at  the  side  of  the  Gulf 
I  stood  and  offered  up  pure  victims 
Unto  Ea,  the  King  of  the  Deep  ; 

With  golden  ships,  a  golden  fish,  a  golden  .  .  . 

Into  the  depths  of  the  sea  I  cast, 

And  then  I  sent  my  ships  across  speedily 
Against  the  city  of  Naglti.”  3 

The  offering  of  the  Golden  Ship  is  intended  to  propitiate 
Ea  and  satisfy  the  hunger  of  the  sea  for  ships,  thus 
paying  toll  beforehand  that  the  real  ships  may  pioceed 
on  their  way  in  safety.4 

1  J.  E.  Harrison,  Prolegomena ,  72. 

2  Skeat,  Malay  Magic ,  72.  3  W.A.I.,  iii,  12,  2. 

4  For  similar  instances  see  Frazer,  Golden  Bough ,  ii.  Xerxes,  to 

give  another  royal  parallel,  after  flogging  the  Hellespont  offers  sacrifices 
on  the  bridge  and  casts  into  the  waters  the  golden  bowl  which  he  had 


SUBSTITUTION  AMONG  OTHER  NATIONS. 


231 


From  these  instances  it  seems  that  the  origin  of  the 
substitution  has  been  forgotten  by  those  that  practise  it. 
The  reasons  given  for  doing  it  are  so  many  and  various 
that  it  is  obvious  they  are  only  attempts  at  an  explanation 
for  continuing  the  practice  of  an  old  custom  among  a 
conservative  people.  In  the  instance  of  Abraham,  the 
ram  is  a  burnt  sacrifice  to  God ;  in  the  Numbers  theory, 
the  firstborn  belongs  to  Yahweh,  in  memory  of  the 
passover ;  1  the  Arab  sacrifices  for  the  safe  return  of  the 
pilgrim  are  a  thankoffering,  which  may  be  referred  to 
many  causes ;  the  redemption  of  buildings  is  clearly  a 
substitution  or  atonement  to  avert  evil,  just  as  the 
sickness-devil  is  given  the  ‘  atonement 5  of  a  sheep.  The 
’aJdkah- ceremony  is  an  act  of  dedication,  according  to 
Robertson  Smith.  We  have  therefore  to  decide  on  the 
balance  of  probabilities,  and  the  questions  to  be  debated 
on  the  origin  of  such  a  custom  are  three  in  number. 
The  possibilities  are  that  the  sacrifice  of  the  firstborn  is 
due  to  (1)  some  theory,  similar  to  that  of  the  ordinary 
atonement  for  tabu,  that  future  danger  (tabu,  sickness, 


\ 

used  in  libation,  with  a  golden  crater  and  a  Persian  sword  (Rouse, 
Greek  Votive  Offerings ,  311  ;  Herodotus,  vii,  54  ;  for  instances  of  gifts 
cast  into  a  holy  spring  see  Robertson  Smith,  liel.  S 'em.,  177).  Even  at 
this  day  at  Gaza  they  have  a  custom  of  throwing  bread  into  the  sea  as 
an  offering  or  vow  to  its  inhabitants  (Baldensperger,  P.E.F. ,  1893, 
216),  and  the  victims  immolated  to  Suleiman  Ibn  Daud  (the  weli  of 
two  hot  springs  near  the  Dead  Sea)  are  sacrificed  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  blood  goes  into  the  water  (Curtiss,  Bibl.  World,  xxi,  257). 
Among  the  Maronites  the  neck  of  the  sheep  is  laid  on  the  prow  of 
a  ship  and  the  throat  is  so  cut  that  the  blood  runs  into  the  sea.  The 
victim  is  then  thrown  into  the  bay  as  a  sacrifice  to  St.  George  or  Seyide 
(ibid.,  xxiii,  336). 

1  Frazer  gives  what  is  probably  the  true  origin  of  the  Passover 
( Golden  Bough ,  ii,  49). 


232  SUBSTITUTION  AMONG  OTHER  NATIONS. 

and  ‘sin’)  can  be  removed  by  such  a  sacrifice,  either 
from  the  parents  or  the  community;  or  (2)  an  idea  that 
the  divine  proprietary  right,  so  strongly  insisted  on 
particularly  in  the  Hebrew  laws,  is  due  to  the  right  of 
the  gods  to  have  connection  with  the  women  of  the 
tribe,  who  thus  bear  semi-divine  children;  or  (3)  the 
idea  that  such  a  sacrifice  of  children  was  in  primitive 
times  as  much  a  sharing  of  a  meal  with  the  deity  as  any 
other  sacrifice,  which,  traced  to  its  logical  conclusion,  would 
show  the  primitive  Semitic  savage  to  be  a  cannibal. 

To  discover  the  meaning  of  such  a  peculiar  custom,  it 
is  plain  that  we  must  go  back  to  the  very  depths  of 
savagery.  The  fact  that  the  Hebrews,  at  an  early  period, 
were  divided  between  at  least  two  divergent  hypotheses 
for  the  origin  of  the  custom  of  vicarious  dedications, 
probably  neither  of  them  correct,  shows  how  old  the  real 
reason  for  such  substitution  must  be ;  and  if  we  go 
further  and  push  this  limit  beyond  the  period  when 
there  was  some  more  logical  reason  for  the  custom  than 
the  glorification  of  the  piety  of  a  tribal  hero  or  the  dis¬ 
comfiture  of  an  ancient  enemy,  we  are  then  only  reaching 

back  to  the  fringe  of  savagery. 

This  is  presumably  a  time  when  the  savage  is  learning 
that  a  human  being  is  of  a  higher  economic,  social,  and 
rational  value  than  an  animal,  and  that  animal  life  is  not 
on  the  same  plane  as  human  in  religious  affairs.  He 
therefore  ceases  to  sacrifice  his  children  as  a  regular 
custom,  and  substitutes  beasts  from  the  flocks  in  their 
place.  Yet,  although  he  forsakes  the  actual  methods  of 
his  ancestors,  he  doubtless  allows  ‘  make-belie\e  to  enter 
somewhat  into  his  procedure.  By  an  ingenuous  display 
of  blood  he  cozens  his  god  into  believing  that  the  highest 


SUBSTITUTION  AMONG  OTHER  NATIONS. 


233 


form  of  meat  has  been  provided  for  the  feast.  If  we 
once  admit  that  the  offering  was  a  sacrifice  of  the  firstborn 
to  the  gods  (such  as  reappeared  at  sporadic  intervals  in 
the  later  civilized  communities  in  time  of  stress),  and  that 
a  lamb  or  kid  might  take  the  place  of  the  human  being 
in  a  sacrificial  meal,  it  is  difficult  to  find  an}  other 
explanation  save  that  the  origin  is  to  be  sought  in 
a  cannibal  feast  to  which  the  gods  were  invited.  The 
story  of  Abraham,  although  probably  affording  little  clue 
to  the  actual  origin,  at  least  points  to  a  sacrifice  of  a  foim 
similar  to  the  sacrificial  meal.  What  is  more,  in  the 
cases  in  which  a  human  being  is  in  question,  there  is  no 
idea  of  it  being  carried  out  in  any  other  way  except  that 
of  a  bloody  sacrifice  by  knife  or  fire. 

The  redemption  of  the  ass  goes  far  to  confirm  this.  If 
the  ass  is  not  redeemed,  the  throat  was  not  to  be  cut,  but 
its  neck  was  to  be  broken.  In  the  primitive  sacrifice 
where  the  offering  represents  the  communal  meal,  the 
throat  of  the  beast  is  cut  and  the  blood  poured  out ,  why, 
then,  should  the  ass  be  different? 

Frazer  concludes  that  a  distinction  was  drawn  between 
sheep,  oxen,  and  goats  on  the  one  hand,  and  men  and 
asses  on  the  other ;  and  he  explains  that  because  the 
Israelites  did  not  eat  the  ass  themselves,  they  concluded 
probably  their  god  did  not  do  so  either  ;  and  the  price 
of  the  redemption  was  a  lamb  which  was  burnt  as  a 
vicarious  sacrifice  instead  of  the  ass,  on  the  hypothesis, 
apparently,  that  roast  lamb  is  likely  to  be  more  palatable 
to  the  Supreme  Being  than  roast  donkey.  Robertson 
Smith  1  seems  to  have  found  the  same  difficulty  about 


1  Rel.  Sem 463. 


234 


SUBSTITUTION  AMONG  OTHER  NATIONS. 


the  ass :  “  that  some  form  of  taboo  lies  also  at  the 
bottom  of  the  sacrifice  of  firstlings,  appears  from  the 
provision  of  the  older  Hebrew  law  that  if  a  firstling  ass 
is  not  redeemed  by  its  owner,  its  neck  shall  be  broken.” 
I  wrould  offer  the  following  as  an  explanation ;  the  reason 
for  sacrificing  kids  or  lambs  is  that  they  are  to  be  eaten, 
and  the  blood  is  therefore  poured  out  on  the  ground,  but 
the  ass  is  a  beast  of  burden,  and  not  food,  and  as  such 
was  slain  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  the  body  apparently 
perfect  so  that  it  might  perform  the  deity’s  work  in  the 
abode  of  the  gods.  Naturally  the  throat  would  not  be 
cut,  because  it  was  not  a  sacrificial  feast. 

From  this  the  deduction  is  clear.  If  the  beast  is  not 
ceremonially  slaughtered  and  cooked,  it  will  not  be  a 
sacrificial  meal  ;  conversely,  all  offerings  that  are  slain 
with  a  knife,  and  burnt,  represent  the  communal  feast. 
Just  as  the  divine  effigy  was  anointed  after  the  manner 
pleasing  to  itching  man,  so  were  the  appetites  of  the  god 
satisfied.  He  intermarried  with  the  tribe  and  fed  at  the 
same  table  off  the  same  food.1  Hence  the  lamb,  which 
is  substituted  in  more  civilized  times  for  the  firstborn, 
and  offered  at  the  common  table,  represents  the  more 
primitive  cannibal  sacrifice.2  Even  in  some  of  the  modern 
fedu  ceremonies  the  blood  of  the  surrogate  is  daubed  on 
the  child,  in  which  we  may  see  an  attempt  to  perpetrate 

1  See  Robertson  Smith,  Rel.  Sem. 

2  The  soul  of  man,  which  is  inseparably  connected  with  the  blood, 
does  not  descend  to  Sheol  unless  the  body  is  buried.  Hence,  pre¬ 
sumably,  while  the  body  of  the  ass  remained  above  ground,  the 
c  shade  ’  doubtless  served  the  tribal  god.  On  the  other  hand,  slaves 
who  accompany  their  dead  human  lords  to  the  netherworld  are  buried 
with  them.  However,  we  do  not  know  what  became  of  the  carcase  of 
the  ass  in  primitive  times. 


NOT  PROPHYLACTIC  ATONEMENT. 


235 


a  very  common  religious  fraud.  The  deity  is  deceived  by 
the  bloodstained  appearance  of  the  child,  and  at  the  same 
time  he  feeds  on  tbe  carcase  of  the  victim. 

There  seems  to  be  little  difficulty  in  eliminating  tbe 
first  theory  of  prophylactic  atonement.  Every  firstborn 
of  man  or  beast  is  held  to  belong  to  the  gods.  Nay, 
more,  the  firstborn  of  sacred  totem  beasts  are  divine 
property  for  sacrifice.  Now  it  is  extremely  improbable 
that  a  savage  who  owns  large  possessions  in  herds  and 
wives  will  sacrifice  not  only  a  lamb  or  a  kid  from  every 
fertile  female  in  his  flocks,  but  even  his  own  firstborn  to 
save  himself  from  harm.  This  would,  in  the  case  of  a 
rich  man,  entail  an  unlimited  destruction  of  property  to 
obtain  a  very  problematic  result.  Still  more  is  it  unlikely 
that  he  will  be  allowed  to  kill  the  firstborn  of  the  totem 
merely  to  preserve  his  individual  life.  Totems  may  be 
killed  and  eaten  at  solemn  tribal  meetings,  but  not  by 
unlicensed  units.  Moreover,  prophylactic  atonement  of  this 
kind  approaches  the  nature  of  the  ‘  atonement  foi  tabu  or 
sin-offering,  such  as  has  been  described  in  the  preceding 
chapter.  The  spirit  causing  the  mischief  changes  its  human 
abode  for  the  animal  into  which  it  is  driven  after  leaving 
the  man’s  body.  But  this,  as  we  have  seen,  makes  the 
animal  really  ‘  unclean,’  tabu,  and  uneatable,  because  it  is 
filled  with  the  spirit.  So,  if  we  return  to  our  argument  of 
the  rich  savage,  such  a  slaughter  of  scores  or  hundreds  of 
firstborn  represents  a  corresponding  waste,  whicn  is  absuid. 

The  second  possibility,  that  of  possession  by  reason  of 
paternity,  is  unlikely.  Although  it  be  granted  that  the 
rights  of  tribal  god  or  gods  are  recognized  among  the 
harim ,  and  that  totemism  and  animal-shaped  gods  give 
colour  to  a  belief  in  intermixture  between  gods  and  beasts 


236 


NOT  RIGHT  OF  PATERNITY. 


at  a  period  of  ignorance,  the  argument  against  such 
a  hypothesis  is  clear.  Heroic  demigods  have,  for  obvious 
reasons,  never  been  sacrificed  in  babyhood,  and  yet  they 
are  clearly  the  result  of  tbe  union  between  gods  and 
women.  Again,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  law  of  the 
firstfruits  of  vegetables,  etc.,  could  be  wrested  into  analogy. 

Furthermore,  although  this  argument  has  little  force 
by  reason  of  its  proposed  explanation,  demons  as  well  as 
gods  married  the  girls  of  the  tribe ;  but  in  this  case,  it 
is  quite  likely  that  the  offspring  are  the  abortions,  and 
especially  those  with  physical  disabilities  who  are  excluded 
categorically  from  the  priesthood. 

The  third  sacrificial  theory  has  already  been  discussed, 
and  seems  the  most  probable.1 

Agreeing  with  Frazer,  “  we  can  hardly  resist  the 
conclusion  that,  before  the  practice  of  redeeming  them 
was  introduced,  the  Hebrews,  like  the 2  other  branches 
of  the  Semitic  race,  regularly  sacrificed  their  firstborn 
children  by  the  fire  or  the  knife”  (ibid.,  49).  He  main¬ 
tains  (p.  51)  against  Wellhausen  ( Prolegomena ,  3rd  ed.,  90) 

1  Riehm’s  theory  is,  I  think,  untenable  :  “  Sebstverstandlich  sollte 
die  menschliche  Erstgeburt  nicht  geopfert  werden  ;  vermoge  ihres 
besonderen  Angehorigkeitsverhaltnisses  an  Jehova  galten  die  Erstge- 
borenen  vielmehr  ursprtinglich  als  die  zum  Dienst  am  Heiligtum 
verpflicliteten  leibeigenen  knechte  Jehova’s”  ( Handworterbucli  des  Bibl. 
Alt.,  1893,  i,  411).  Isaac  is  obviously  a  burnt  sacrifice.  The  Levites 
are  chosen  “from  among  the  children  of  Israel  instead  of  all  the 
firstborn  that  openeth  the  matrix  among  the  children  of  Israel  ” 
(Num.  iii,  12).  Also  the  existence  of  the  Nazarite  class  must  not  be 
forgotten.  To  this  day  in  Syria  women  vow  to  give  a  son  to  God, 
who  is  regarded  as  a  sort  of  Nazarite,  and  his  hair  is  not  cut  until  he 
comes  of  age  (Curtiss,  Prim.  Sem.  Pel .,  153,  note). 

2  In  view  of  our  having  no  evidence  that  the  Assyrians  sacrificed 
their  firstborn,  I  should  suggest  the  substitution  of  “  other  ”  for 
“  the  other.” 


BUT  PROBABLY  INDICATING  CANNIBALISM.  237 


and  Robertson  Smith 1  (Eel.  Sem.,  2nd  ed.,  464)  that  this 
redemption  is  a  modification  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  firstborn, 
and  he  quotes  in  support  of  this  the  customs  of  many 
savage  tribes.  In  some  parts  of  Hew  South  Wales  the 
firstborn  child  of  every  woman  is  eaten  as  a  religious 
ceremony ;  in  Senjero,  East  Africa,  many  families  offer 
up  their  firstborn  as  sacrifices.  Among  some  tribes  of 
South  East  Africa,  when  a  woman’s  husband  has  been 
killed  in  battle,  and  she  marries  again,  the  first  child  after 
her  second  marriage  must  be  put  to  death.  If  it  were 
not  killed  an  accident  would  befall  the  second  spouse, 
and  the  woman  herself  would  be  barren.2 

On  this  third  hypothesis,  that  the  dedication  of  the 
firstborn  to  the  deity  had  its  origin  in  sacrifice,  we  can 
proceed  to  examine  the  evidence  for  cannibalism  at  such 
a  sacrificial  meal.  Robertson  Smith  certainly  more  than 
hints  at  such  a  proceeding.3 *  The  probability  of  such 

1  Robertson  Smith  says  here  :  “  To  conclude  from  this  that  at  one 
time  the  Hebrews  actually  sacrificed  all  their  firstborn  sons  is  absurd.’5 

2  He  also  quotes  the  heathen  Russians  as  sacrificing  their  firstborn, 
with  other  instances. 

3  “  Wherever  we  find  the  doctrine  of  substitution  of  animal  life  for 
that  of  man,  we  also  find  examples  of  actual  human  sacrifice,  some¬ 
times  confined  to  seasons  of  extreme  peril,  and  sometimes  practised 
periodically  at  solemn  annual  rites.  I  apprehend  that  this  is  the 
point  from  which  the  special  development  of  piacular  sacrifices,  and 
the  distinction  between  them  and  ordinary  sacrifices,  takes  its  start. 
It  was  impossible  that  the  sacrificial  customs  should  continue  unmodified 
where  the  victim  was  held  to  represent  a  man  and  a  tribesman,  for  even 
savages  commonly  refuse  to  eat  their  own  kinsfolk,  andjto  growing 
civilisation  the  idea  that  the  gods  had  ordained  meals  of  human  flesh, 
or  of  flesh  that  was  as  sacred  as  that  of  a  man,  was  too  repulsive  to  be 
long  retained.  .  .  .  Whether  the  custom  of  actually  eating  the  flesh 
survived  in  historical  times  in  any  case  of  human  sacrifice  is  moie  than 

doubtful55  (Rel.  Sem.,  366). 

He  tries  to  show  from  this  repulsion  that  in  any  offering  simulating 


238 


PREHISTORIC  CANNIBALISM. 


a  hypothesis  will  rest  first  on  the  evidence  pro  and  con 
of  the  prevalence  of  cannibalism  among  prehistoric  peoples 
and  modern  savages  in  general,  and,  secondly,  in  traditions 
of  the  Semitic  nations  in  particular,  and  the  local  forces 
which  might  lead  to  such  a  custom, 

Tylor,  in  his  article  “  Cannibalism  ”  in  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,  says :  “  It  has  been  well  argued  that  had  the 
men  of  the  quaternary  period  been  cannibals,  we  should 
find  the  bones  generally  cracked  for  the  marrow  like 
those  of  beasts,  which  is  not  the  case  (Le  Hon,  H  Homme 
Fossile,  p.  68)  ;  also,  that  as  regards  the  ancient  people 
of  the  shell-mounds,  had  they  eaten  their  own  species 
they  would  have  thrown  the  human  bones  into  the  rubbish 
heaps  with  those  of  beasts  and  fishes  (Lubbock,  Prehistoric 
Times,  p.  232).  The  discovery  of  some  few  ancient  human 
remains,  the  state  of  wThich  seems  to  indicate  that  the 
flesh  had  been  eaten,  may  perhaps  be  taken  to  show  that 
prehistoric  savages  were  in  this  respect  like  those  of 
modern  times,  neither  free  from  cannibalism  nor  universally 
practising  it.”  At  the  same  time  the  evidence  brought 
forward  at  the  Congres  Internationale  pour  les  Etudes 

human  sacrifice  the  sacrificial  meal  tended  to  fall  out  of  use,  and  in 
the  case  of  animal  piacula  the  sacrificial  meal  is  generally  wanting,  or 
confined  to  the  priests  (pp.  367-368).  By  his  theory  of  piacula,  his 
explanation  of  the  reason  for  throwing  the  carcases  outside  the  camp 
is  rather  forced.  He  maintains  (pp.  369-376)  that  the  substitution 
and  human  sacrifices  closely  parallel  the  burning  of  the  flesh  of  the 
Hebrew  sin-offerings  outside  the  camp,  and  that  there  is  hardly  any 
doubt  that  originally  the  true  sacrifice,  i.e.  the  shedding  of  the  blood, 
as  in  the  Hebrew  sin-offering,  took  place  at  the  temple,  and  the 
burning  was  a  distinct  act. 

There  is,  however,  by  our  theory  of  demoniac  exorcism,  no  necessity 
to  connect  the  sin-offering  with  the  substitution  of  the  firstborn.  The 
rites  take  their  origin  from  two  widely  distinct  sources. 


PREHISTORIC  CANNIBALISM. 


239 


Prdhistoriques  in  1867  (2nd  session,  Paris)  shows  that 
prehistoric  man  at  one  period  of  his  existence  did  certainly 
eat  his  fellow.1 

That  cannibalism  under  stress  of  famine  was  recognized 
as  a  possibility  among  the  Assyrians  is  proved  by  the 
tablet  K.  4541, 2  which  is  described  by  Bezold  in  his 
Catalogue  as  a  mythological  legend,  bearing  mention  of 
an  ancient  Babylonian  ruler,  during  whose  reign  wars, 
discord,  and  slavery  appeared  on  the  earth,  and  giving  an 
account  of  the  origin  of  the  Assyrian  Empire.  All  the 
verbs,  however,  in  the  passage  he  quotes  are  in  the 
present  tense  (and  not  past),  and  his  proposed  explanation 
is  due  to  a  blunder.  The  translation  runs :  “  That  prince 
shall  see  woe,  his  heart  shall  be  grieved;  during  his  rule 
battle  and  strife  shall  not  cease,  in  that  reign  brother 
shall  eat  his  brother,  men  shall  sell  their  children  for 


1  M.  Spring  proved  cannibalism  in  the  cave  of  Chauveau  (p.  159) ; 
M.  Schaaffausen  in  Ultz,  Westphalia  ;  M.  Messikommer  in  Robenhausen 
(evidence  held  indecisive)  ;  M.  Clement  in  Saint- Aubin  (human  bones 
perforated)  ;  M.  Roujou  in  Yilleneuve-Saint-Georges ;  M.  Bouvet  in 
Guyane ;  M.  de  Lastic  in  the  cave  of  Bruniquel  ;  M.  de  Mehedin  in 
Mexico.  For  other  instances  of  prehistoric  cannibalism  in  Europe 
and  elsewhere,  see  Richard  Andree,  Die  Anthropophagie ,  1887,  2  ff.  ; 
Bergemann,  Die  Verbreitung  der  Anthropophagie ,  1893,  6  ft.  For  the 
literature  on  cannibalism  see  Gaidoz,  Melusine,  iii,  337.  For  an  article 
with  a  plate  showing  prehistoric  human  bones  split  to  extract  the 
marrow,  see  Matiegka,  Mittheil.  d.  Anthrop .  Gesellschaft  in  Wien, 
xxvi,  129.  Bergemann  quotes  many  classical  passages  for  certain 
forms  of  cannibalism,  notably  Herodotus  (i,  216)  for  the  Massagetse 
who  killed  people  when  they  grew  old,  and  the  mythical  stories  of 
Tantalus,  Atreus,  and  Polyphemus. 

2  Rubu  sd  marusta  immar ,  ul  itab  libbi&u ,  adi  sarrdtUu  tahazu 
u  kabluiii  id  ipparrasu,  ina  pall  suatu  aku  alvi&u  ikkal  nisi!  mdresina 
ana  kaspi  ipaUaru ,  mdtdti  istenis  innUsd ,  idlu  ardata  \iz~\zib  u  ardatu 
izzib  zdli ,  ummu  eli  mdrti  bdbi-kc  iddil ,  buhl  Babili  ana  kirib  su-edin-ki 
u  mUu  Assuri  irrub. 


240 


CANNIBALISM  AMONGST  THE  SEMITES. 


money;  the  lands  shall  be  raised  up  one  against  another. 
The  man  shall  desert  the  maid  and  the  maid  desert  the 
man  ;  mother  shall  bolt  her  door  against  daughter.  The 
property  of  Babylon  shall  come  into  Subarti  and  Assyria. 

It  is  clearly  a  text  that  threatens  evil  on  the  ruler  of 
the  land  for  some  reason  or  other. 

There  is  another  passage  which  points  to  human  flesh 
being  eaten  by  gods.  This  is  from  the  Labcirtu-&QT\.Q& : 1 
(t  There  came  the  daughter  of  Anu  to  Bel,  her  father, 
and  said,  ‘Bring  me,  0  my  father  Bel,  what  I  ask  of  thee: 
the  flesh  of  men  not  good,  the  blood  of  men  .  .  ” 

But  this  is  an  incantation,  and  no  very  great  stress  must 
be  laid  on  it. 

The  Arabs  have  been  clearly  shown  to  have  eaten 
human  flesh.2 

The  existence  of  cannibalism  among  the  Hebrews  was 
maintained  by  Grhillanys3  and  Daumer 4  as  far  back  as 
1842.  The  latter  says :  “  De  cette  maniere,  on  n’immolait 
que  des  enfans  de  la  noblesse  ;  ceux  du  menu  peuple 
et  les  autres  victimes  humaines  servaient  apres  leur 
mort  a  remplir  de  leur  chair  et  de  leur  sang  les  plats  du 
banquet  religieux ;  on  n’en  jetait  dans  le  feu  que  leurs 
os,  qu’on  avait  eu  soin  de  garder  intacts  et  sans  les 
endommager.”  u  La  fete  du  Passah  appartenait  a  1  ancien 
culte  molochiste ;  c’etait  la  grande  fete  universelle  de 
l’immolation  de  la  chair  humaine,  le  banquet  des 


1  Myhrman,  Z.A. ,  xvi,  175, 1.  33  ff. 

2  Robertson  Smith,  Kinship  and  Marriage ,  1903,  291  ff.  ;  Goldziher, 
Uber  Kannibalismus  aus  Orientalischen  Quellen ,  Globus ,  1896,  lxx, 
No.  15. 

3  Les  Sacrifices  Humains  cliez  les  Hebreux ,  1842. 

4  Le  Cidte  du  Moloch ,  1842,  2  ff. 


CANNIBALISM  AMONGST  THE  SEMITES. 


241 


cannibales  mangeant  la  chair,  buvant  le  sang  des  enfans 
sacrifies,  et  jetant  dans  le  feu  les  os  non  brises  des 
victimes.” 

Whether  there  remains  enough  evidence  to  show  that 
the  Hebrews  of  the  more  historical  period  did  eat  human 
flesh  is  doubtful ;  but  that  their  traditions  indicate  that 
their  Semitic  forefathers  did  so  is,  I  think,  quite  obvious. 
This  is  Bergemann’s  view,  and  he  says  that  it  is  clear 
from  Hum.  xxiii,  24,  that  the  blood  of  enemies  slain  in 
battle  was  drunk  in  the  most  ancient  period.  Further, 
Hum.  xxiv,  8,  shows  that  their  flesh  was  eaten.1  The  only 
difficulty  that  would  arise  about  the  eating  of  the  firstborn 
is  the  prejudice  that  some  savages  have  against  eating 
kindred  flesh.  For  this  reason  the  wilder  South  American 
tribes,  according  to  Cieza  de  Leon,  bred  children  they 
might  lawfully  eat  from  wives  of  alien  stock,  the  father 
being  reckoned  not  akin  to  his  children  who  follow  the 
maternal  line.2  On  the  other  hand,  Steinmetz,  in  his 
Endokannibalismus ,  has  attempted  to  bring  all  cases  of 
cannibalism  under  the  term  ‘  endocannibalism/  or  custom 
of  eating  relations  and  kindred.  This  is  quoted  by  Deniker,3 
who  says  that  the  theory  meets  with  the  difficulty  that 
certain  Australian  tribes  avoid  eating  their  relations  (except 
young  children)  and  exchange  between  the  various  tribes. 
If,  however,  the  kindred  children  be  admitted  as  eatable, 
there  is  no  obstacle  to  our  theory  of  the  Semites  eating 
their  firstborn. 

The  reason  for  the  origin  of  cannibalism,  if  it  existed 
among  the  Semites  at  an  early  period,  as  seems  very 

1  Bergemann,  Die  Verbreitung  dev  Anthropophagie ,  1893,  12. 

2  Andrew  Lang,  Perrault’s  Tales ,  cviii. 

3  Races  et  Peuples  de  la  Terre ,  1900,  176. 


R 


242 


CANNIBALISM  AMONGST  THE  SEMITES. 


probable,  is  not  far  to  seek.  Arabia,  the  home  of  the 
Semites,  at  least  before  they  split  up  into  their  various 
nationalities,  is  one  of  the  most  barren  lands.  “  Indeed, 
that  the  pressure  of  famine  had  far  more  to  do  with  the 
origin  of  infanticide  than  family  pride  had,  can  be  doubtful 
to  no  one  who  realises  the  fact — vividly  brought  out  in 
Mr.  Doughty’s  travels — that  the  nomads  of  Arabia  suffer 
constantly  from  hunger  during  a  great  part  of  the  year.”  1 
Necessity  is  one  of  the  three  reasons  admitted  for  anthropo¬ 
phagy,  the  other  two  being  gluttony  and  superstition  ; 
and  therefore  we  shall  probably  not  be  wrong  in  thinking 
that  the  early  Semites  were  driven  by  force  of  hunger  to 
devour  their  children,  and  at  the  same  time  reduce  their 
numbers.  Doubtless  this  scarcity  of  food  was  one  of  the 
chief  factors  in  driving  them  to  look  for  better  and  more 
fertile  lands ;  and,  as  soon  as  they  settled  in  the  richer 
pastures  of  Mesopotamia,  economic  reasons  would  suggest 
the  substitution  of  lambs  and  kids  for  the  sacrifice  of  their 
own  kin.  Against  this  it  may  be  urged  that  up  to  the 
present  no  trace  of  this  form  of  substitution  has  been 
found  in  cuneiform.  Yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
much  of  the  Babylonian  religion,  as  we  know  it,  comes 
from  the  Sumerians,  who  inhabited  these  fertile  valleys 
long  before  the  Semites  arrived.  And  hence  we  may 
assume  that  they  had  never  been  driven  by  famine  to  eat 
human  flesh. 

Why  the  firstborn  only  should  have  been  selected  is 
not  clear.  There  is  nothing  more  appetizing  about  the 
first  of  a  family  than  the  second,  and  there  is  nothing 
peculiarly  pure  about  them,  for  the  pure  beast  in  magic 


1  Robertson  Smith,  Kinship ,  294. 


SELECTION  OF  THE  FIRSTBORN. 


243 


is  the  virgin.1  It  is,  however,  a  custom  which  compels 
every  mother  to  take  her  turn,  and  at  any  rate  it  secures 
a  sure  propitiation  of  the  god.  If  the  gods  are  admitted 
to  have  regular  dues  paid  by  the  tribe,  this  is  the  surest 
way  of  attaining  such  a  result.  To  defer  the  gift  until 
a  second  crop  might,  by  failure  or  unexpected  barrenness, 
bring  down  the  divine  wrath.  But  so  many  things  have 
to  be  taken  into  account,  that  it  is  difficult  to  evolve  a 
satisfactory  theory.  Priestly  or  kingly  influence  doubtless 
had  its  effect  on  the  tribute  of  rich  tribesmen. 

We  may  reasonably  consider,  then,  that  the  primitive 
Semite,  long  before  historic  times,  was  a  cannibal,  and 
devoured  the  firstborn  of  the  tribe  at  a  sacrificial  meal. 
As  time  went  on  and  the  tribe  grew  richer  in  flocks,  it 
became  the  custom  to  substitute  a  firstborn  kid  for  the 
eldest  child.  Yet  in  times  of  great  national  stress  the 
Semitic  mind  would  revert  to  primitive  tradition,  perhaps 
instinctively,  and  the  firstborn  would  be  sacrificed  to 
the  god.  The  people  of  historical  times  had  doubtless 
forgotten  that  human  sacrifice  represented  a  commensal 
cannibal  meal,  and  regarded  it  either  as  a  “  self-denying 
ordinance  ”  to  offer  their  best,  or  else  looked  upon  it 
as  a  surrogate  for  the  whole  people  on  the  analogy  of 
other  substitutes. 

Yet  the  fact  must  never  be  lost  sight  of  that  the  lamb 
brought  as  a  sin-offering  took  its  origin  in  the  carcase  of 

1  But  cf.  Robertson  Smith,  Eel.  Se?n.,  464 :  “  In  point  of  fact,  even 
in  old  times,  when  exceptional  circumstances  called  for  a  human  victim, 
it  was  a  child,  and  by  preference  a  firstborn  or  only  child,  that  was 
selected  by  the  peoples  in  and  around  Palestine.  This  is  commonly 
explained  as  the  most  costly  offering  a  man  can  make  ;  but  it  is  rather 
to  be  regarded  as  the  choice,  for  a  special  purpose,  of  the  most  sacred 
kind  of  victim.” 


244 


SELECTION  OE  THE  EIRSTBORN. 


the  beast  which  was  intended  as  a  bait  to  inveigle  the 
evil  spirit  out  of  the  sick  man.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
substitution  of  the  lamb  for  the  firstborn  arises,  as  we 
have  seen,  out  of  a  primitive  cannibal  sacrifice.  The 
origins  of  the  two  rites  are  absolutely  dissimilar,  whatever 
may  have  been  the  ultimate  phase  to  which  a  process  of 
analogy  brought  them. 


245 


APPENDIX. 


y 

I. — The  Lists  of  Breaches  of  Tabu  in  the  Subpu  Series. 

Y 

As  has  been  stated  on  p.  124,  the  Surpu  Series  contains 
a  long  list  of  the  possible  tabus  which  the  sick  man  may 
have  broken  unwittingly.  They  may  be  grouped  under  the 
following  heads  : — 

(1)  Of  gods  and  their  worship. 

II,  5.  “  Hath  he  sinned  against  his  god,  hath  he  sinned  against  his 

goddess  ?  ” 

32.  “  Is  it  an  unknown  sin  against  a  god,  is  it  an  unknown  sin 
against  a  goddess  ?  ” 

33.  “  Hath  he  spurned  a  god,  hath  he  slighted  a  goddess  ?” 

34.  “  Is  it  against  his  god  that  his  sin  (is)  or  against  his  goddess 
his  misdeed  ?  ” 

74.  “  Is  it  in  anything  that  he  hath  slighted  his  god  or  goddess  V’ 

81.  “  Hath  he  made  god  or  his  goddess  angry  with  him  ?  ” 

122.  “  He  seeketh  of  the  gods  of  heaven,  the  shrines  of  earth.” 

123.  “He  seeketh  at  the  shrine  of  lord  or  lady.” 

Ill,  138-148.  “  Marduk  can  loose  the  tabu  of  Ann,  Anatu,  Bel,  Belit, 

Ea,  Damkina,  Sin,  Ningal,  Samas,  Aa,  Adad,  Sala,  Marduk, 
Sarpanit,  Nabft,  Tasmit,  Ninih,  Belit-Nippur,  .  .  .  Gula,  .  .  . 
and  Ba’u.” 

Cf.  also  IY,  9,  “  Loose  ...  of  sin  against  a  god,”  and 

II,  11,  “.  .  .  his  goddess  hath  he  despised?”  Here  also 
should  come  II,  128,  “  He  seeketh  of  the  temple”  ;  III,  52, 
“  Tabu  against  passing  the  bounds  of  a  god  ” ;  probably 

III,  45,  “  [Ban  of  angel  ( sedu)\  and  lamassu  -  genius  ”  ; 
III,  68,  69,  “  Tabu  of  Ninib  .  .  .  ,”  “  Tabu  of  shrine  and 
temple”  ;  71,  “  Tabu  of  the  god  silakki  .  .  .”  ;  72-76,  “Tabu 
of  the  god  of  (such-and-such)  .  .  .  ,”  the  latter  part  of  the 
lines  being  mutilated. 

Cf.  Old  Testament,  First  and  Third  Commandments : 
Exod.  xxii,  20  (“  He  that  sacrificeth  unto  any  god,  save  unto 
Yahweh  only  ”) ;  cf.  also  28,  but  this  is  more  probably  to  be 
put  under  the  head  of  sedition. 


246 


APPENDIX. 


(2)  Of  offerings  to  gods. 

II,  77  — SO.  ^  [Is  it  anything]  he  hath  sanctified  (or)  he  hath  .  •  •  , 
and  then  withheld  ?  Anything  which  he  hath  presented  (?) 
.  .  .  hut  eaten  himself  ?  Anything  which  he  hath  .  .  . 
and  made  a  prayer  ?  Hath  he  abrogated  a  due  offering  ?  ” 
III,  31.  “  [Tabu]  of  destroying  (?)  an  offering  (?),  of  pouring  a 

libation  (?)  away  into  water.” 

54.  “  Tabu  of  eating  the  flesh  of  an  offering.” 

Here  perhaps  should  be  placed  VIII,  39,  “  From  the  tabu 
of  .  .  .  city,  house,  staff,  rod,  turtu,  tabu,  and  making  an 
offering  ” ;  II,  86,  “  Hath  he  incurred  a  tabu  in  making  an 
offering  ?  ” 

See  Robertson  Smith,  Rel.  Sent.,  450,  etc.,  and  compare 
Deut.  xxiii,  21,  “  When  thou  shalt  vow  a  vow  unto  Yah  well 
thy  God,  thou  shalt  not  be  slack  to  pay  it.” 

The  Egyptian  Negative  Confession,  “I  have  not  spoiled 
the  bread  of  offering  in  the  temples,  I  have  not  taken 
away  from  the  bread  of  offering  of  the  gods,  I  have  not 
diminished  offerings  ”  (Wiedemann,  Religion  of  the  Ancient 
Egyptians ,  251). 

(3)  Of  relations  and  friends. 

II,  20-28.  “  Hath  he  set  son  at  variance  with  father,  father  with  son, 

mother  with  daughter,  daughter  with  mother,  mother-in-law 
with  daughter-in-law,  daughter-in-law  with  mother-in-law, 
brother  with  his  brother,  comrade  with  his  comrade,  friend 
with  his  friend  ?  ” 

35.  “  Oppression  against  a  bennu ,  hatred  against  an  elder 
brother.” 

36.  “  Hath  he  despised  father  (or)  mother,  hath  he  reviled  an 
elder  sister  ?  ” 

III,  3-11.  “  Tabu  falling  on  a  man  through  father,  mother,  grand¬ 

father,  grandmother,  brother,  sister,  the  seven  members  of 
his  father’s  house,  old  or  young,  near  or  distant  relatives, 
progeny  or  suckling,  comrade  or  fellow,  friend  or  com¬ 
panion.”  Cf.  also  156-158,  161,  and  IY,  37,  which  included 
some  of  these. 

VIII,  41,  42.  “  From  the  tabu  of  a  brother,  companion,  friend,  fellow, 

partner,  fellow-townsman  (of  protecting  or  being  hostile 
to) ;  from  the  tabu  of  elder  brother,  elder  sister,  father  or 
mother  (of  protecting  or  being  hostile  to).” 


APPENDIX. 


247 


VIII,  51,52.  “From  [the  tabu  of  slave  or]  handmaid,  master  or 
mistress  (of  protecting  or  being  hostile  to)  ;  from  [the  tabu 
of  .  .  .]  of  princess,  witch,  harlot,  courtesan  (?).” 

55.  “  From  the  tabu  of  wife,  concubine,  (or)  son  (of  protecting 

or  being  hostile  to).” 

Under  this  head  must  come — 

II,  51-53.  “  Hath  he  not  spared  a  man  miranussu ,  hath  he  driven 

forth  the  good  man  from  his  folk,  hath  he  scattered 
a  well-knit  family  ?  ” 

72,  73.  “  Is  it  through  a  company  which  he  hath  scattered 

(that  he  hath  incurred  a  tabu)  ?  Is  it  through  a  well-knit 
troop  which  he  hath  split  up  ?  ” 

Here  also  must  come  III,  55,  “  Tabu  of  being  agreed  with 
an  adversary,  and  then  being  hostile  ”  ;  162,  “  [Tabu  from] 
kinsfolk  (?)  and  relatives”  ;  and  probably  163,  “[Tabu  from 
offspring]  and  suckling.” 

Cf.  Old  Testament,  Fifth  Commandment:  Exod.  xxi,  15 
(“  And  he  that  smiteth  his  father  or  his  mother  shall  surely 
be  put  to  death”);  similarly,  in  v.  17,  he  that  curses  his 
parents;  Lev.  xix,  32;  xx,  9;  Deut.  xxvii,  16. 

Here  must  be  added — 

II,  29-31.  “  Hath  he  not  let  a  captive  go  free,  hath  he  not  let  loose 

a  prisoner,  hath  he  not  let  one  in  prison  see  the  light,  hath 
he  said  of  a  captive  ‘  Seize  him  ! 5  or  of  a  prisoner  ‘  Bind 
him  !  ’  ?  ” 

(4)  Of  murder. 

II,  49.  “  Hath  he  shed  his  neighbour’s  blood  ?  ” 

87.  “  Hath  he  incurred  a  tabu  from  life  ?  ” 

III,  34.  “  Tabu  of  approaching  (?)  his  friend  (?)  and  slaying  him.” 

Cf.  Old  Testament,  Sixth  Commandment. 

(5)  Of  adultery 

II,  48.  “  Hath  he  approached  his  neighbour’s  wife  ?  ” 

Cf.  Old  Testament,  Seventh  Commandment:  Lev.  xviii, 
1  ff.  ;  xx,  10. 

(6)  Of  stealing  and  cheating. 

II,  42,  43.  “  Hath  he  used  a  false  balance,  hath  he  taken  a  wrong 

price,  hath  he  [not  taken  a  righteous]  price 
45-47.  “  Hath  he  set  a  false  boundary,  hath  he  not  set  a  true 

boundary,  hath  he  removed  landmark,  border,  or  boundaiy  ? 


248 


APPENDIX. 


Ill,  56.  “  Tabu  of  fixing  border  or  boundary.” 

VIII,  34.  “  From  tlie  tabu  of  .  .  .  border,  boundary,  or  landmark.” 

II,  47.  •“  Hath  he  entered  his  neighbour’s  house  ?  ” 

50.  “  Hath  he  stolen  his  neighbour’s  garment  ?  ” 

61.  “  Hath  he  been  insulting,  robbed,  or  caused  to  rob  ?  ” 

VIII,  47-49.  “  From  the  tabu  of  giving  with  a  small  measure,  shekel, 

or  mana,  and  taking  with  a  large  one.” 

50.  “From  the  tabu  of  using  a  false  balance,  of  taking  a  wrong 
price  from  one  under  a  tabu  (?)  ” 

Here  also  add  II,  114,  “He  asketh  of  the  BAR-measure, 
and  the  KA-measure.” 

Cf.  Old  Testament,  Eighth  Commandment:  Exod.  xxii,  1  ff. 
(“  If  a  man  shall  steal  an  ox  ”)  ;  Lev.  xix.  11  (“  Ye  shall  not 
steal”);  xix,  35,  36  (“Ye  shall  do  no  unrighteousness  in 
judgment,  in  meteyard,  in  weight,  or  in  measure.  Just 
balances,  just  weights,  a  just  ephah,  and  a  just  hin,  shall 
ye  have”);  Deut.  xxv,  13  (“Thou  shalt  not  have  in  thy 
bag  divers  weights,  a  great  and  a  small  ”).  Cf.  vv.  14,  15  ; 
Deut.  xix,  14;  and  xxvii,  17  (landmarks). 

One  of  the  great  crimes  of  which  the  Midianites  were 
guilty  was  the  using  of  diverse  measures  and  weights,  a  great 
and  a  small,  buying  by  one  and  selling  by  another  (Sale, 
Koran ,  quoting  A1  Beidawi  in  D’Herbelot,  Bill.  Orient.). 

(7)  Of  lying  or  breaking  promises. 

II,  6.  “  Hath  he  said  £  no  ’  for  £  yes,’  or  ‘  yes  ’  for  ‘no’?  ” 

38,  39.  “  Hath  he  said  £  there  is’  for  £  there  is  not,’  or  £  there  is 

not  ’  for  £  there  is  ’  ?  ” 

55-57.  “  Hath  he  been  straight  with  his  mouth  but  not  true  in 

his  heart,  hath  his  mouth  said  £  yea  ’  but  his  heart  £  nay  ’ ; 
in  anything  hath  he  meditated  unrighteousness  ?  ” 

75.  “  Hath  he  promised  with  heart  and  mouth  (and)  not  given  ?  ” 

III,  51.  “  [Tabu  of]  saying  and  denying.” 

VIII,  56.  “  From  the  tabu  of  promising  pleasure  and  joy,  and  then 

denying  it  and  not  giving  it.” 

Cf.  Old  Testament,  Ninth  Commandment:  Exod.  xxiii,  1 ; 
Lev.  xix,  11  ff. 

(8)  Of  speech. 

II,  8.  “  Hath  he  spoken  what  is  unholy  .  .  .  ?  ” 

12-14.  “  Hath  he  spoken  evil  .  .  .  ?  Hath  he  spoken  what  is 

impure  .  .  .  ?  Hath  he  let  intrigue  be  discussed  ?  ” 


APPENDIX. 


249 


II,  41.  “  Hath  he  spoken  wickedness  .  .  .  ?” 

63-65.  “  Is  his  mouth  loose  (?)  (or)  foul,  are  his  lips  deceitful  (?) 

(or)  perverse,  hath  he  taught  what  is  impure,  hath  he 
inculcated  that  which  is  unseemly  ?  ” 

82.  “  Hath  he  stood  up  in  an  assembly  and  spoken  what  is  not 

correct  ?  ” 

(9)  Of  bribery. 

II,  15.  “  Hath  he  caused  a  judge  to  receive  [a  bribe  (?)]  ?  ” 

III,  24.  “  Tabu  of  giving  a  bribed  judgment.” 

Cf.  Exod.  xxiii,  8,  “  And  tbou  shalttake  no  gift ;  for  a  gift 
blindeth  them  that  have  sight,  and  perverteth  the  words  of  the 
righteous”;  Lev.  xix,  15,  “  Ye  shall  do  no  unrighteousness 
in  judgment:  thou  shalt  not  respect  the  person  of  the  poor, 
nor  honour  the  person  of  the  mighty,  but  in  righteousness 
shalt  thou  judge  thy  neighbour.” 


(10)  Of  sedition  and  the  like. 

II,  19.  “  .  .  .  Hath  he  made  its  city  turn  ?  ” 

54.  “  Hath  he  opposed  one  in  authority  ?  ” 

96-98.  “Hath  he  wronged  his  city,  hath  he  spread  abroad 
a  rumour  against  his  city,  hath  he  made  evil  the  speech 
of  his  city  ?  ” 

III,  131.  “  Ban  of  rebellion  and  revolt.” 

Cf.  VIII,  53,  “From  the  tabu  of  .  .  .  prefect,  officer,  and 
judge.” 

Cf.  Exod.  xxii,  28,  “  Thou  shalt  not  revile  Grod  (margin, 
judges),  nor  curse  a  ruler  of  thy  people.” 

(11)  Various  vague  references  to  wrong. 

II,  37.  “  Hath  he  given  in  small  things,  and  refused  in  great  ?” 

44.  “  Hath  he  deposed  the  rightful  heir,  hath  he  set  up  the  wrong 

heir  ?  ” 

58-60.  “  Hath  he  transgressed  the  right,  hath  he  offended  (?), 

hath  he  abolished,  driven  away,  destroyed,  ?,  ?,  ?  ” 

62.  “  Hath  he  set  his  hand  to  evil  ?  ” 

66.  “  Hath  he  followed  after  evil  ?  ” 


250 


APPENDIX. 


II,  67.  “  Hath  he  passed  over  the  hounds  of  right  ? ” 

68.  “  Hath  he  done  what  is  not  pure  ?  ” 

70,  71.  “Is  it  through  any  grievous  harm  that  he  hath  done? 
Is  it  by  the  many  sins  which  he  hath  committed  ?  ” 

94,  95.  Tapdd  uktabis ,  [ arfica  tapdi  ittatallak  (difficult  of  ex¬ 
planation). 

Ill,  12,  13.  “  Tabu  of  right  or  wrong,  heavy  or  light.” 

Here  should  come  the  mutilated  lines  III,  127-130, 
“Tabu  of  weak  and  .  .  .  ,  sin  and  fever  (P),  of  making 
a  mistake  (?),  of  sin  and  misdeed”;  III,  160,  “Tabu  of 
.  .  .  sin  ... 

(12)  Of  water. 

Ill,  38,  39.  “  Tabu  of  being  asked  for  a  runnel  for  one  day,  and 

refusing,  of  being  asked  for  a  ditch  and  refusing.” 

53.  “  Tabu  of  stopping  a  neighbour’s  canal.” 

Here  must  come  II,  117-119,  “He  seeketh  of  irrigation- 
machine,  well,  or  river  ” ;  III,  47,  “  [Tabu  of  well  P]  and 
river,”  and  possibly  48,  49,  “  [Tabu  of]  dam  and  ferry,  .  .  . 
and  bridge  ”  ;  VIII,  35-37,  “  From  the  tabu  of  runnel, 
canal,  bridge,  passage,  way,  or  road,  from  the  tabu  of  ship, 
river,  dam,  ferry,  booth,  and  reed-hut  (?),  from  the  tabu  of 
balihu,  runnel,  spring,  watercourse,  and  fortress  ”  ;  III,  59, 
“  Tabu  of  urinating  into  a  river  or  vomiting  into  a  river  ”  ; 
133,  “Tabu  of  .  .  .  and  Euphrates.” 

Cf.  the  Egyptian  Negative  Confession  (Wiedemann,  Eel. 
An.  Eg .,  251),  “I  have  not  turned  aside  the  water  (from 
a  neighbour’s  field)  at  the  time  of  inundation,  I  have  not 
cut  off  an  arm  of  the  river  in  its  course.” 


(13)  Of  fire. 


II, 

110. 

“  Of  the  lighted  coal-pan,  of  the  torch,  of  the  bellows  he 
seeketh.” 

III, 

15. 

“  Tabu  of  bellows  and  coal-pan.” 

132. 

“  Tabu  of  fire  and  coal-pan.” 

VIII, 

58. 

“  From  the  tabu  of  oven,  flame  (?),  stove,  coal-pan,  .  .  .  ,  and 

bellows.” 

Here,  too,  may  come  III,  16,  “Tabu  of  pointing  at  the 
fire  ”  ;  and  18,  “  Tabu  of  casting  fire  in  a  man’s  face.” 


APPENDIX. 


251 


All  these  tabus  seem  to  have  reference  to  respect  paid  to 
fire.  Fire  was  not  allowed  to  be  kindled  on  the  Sabbath  by 
the  Hebrews  (Exod.  xxxv,  3),  and  such  nations  as  especially 
reverence  fire  show  clearly  how  such  tabus  originated.  For 
instance,  the  Parsees  will  not  suffer  a  menstruous  woman 
to  see  fire  or  even  look  on  a  lighted  taper  (Frazer,  Golden 
Bough ,  iii,  224,  quoting  Gf.  Hoffmann).  Such  tabus  are 
based  on  local  sacra  ;  in  Homer  (//.,  v,  499)  the  threshing- 
floor,  the  winnowing-fan,  and  meal  are  all  held  to  be  sacred. 

(14)  Of  weapons. 

Ill,  27-29.  “  Tabu  of  bow  or  chariot,  bronze  dagger,  or  spear,  lance, 

or  bow.” 

VIII,  60.  “  From  the  tabu  of  being  banned  by  a  bow,  chariot,  iron 

dagger,  or  lance.” 

Here  also  must  come  III,  67,  “  Tabu  of  drawing  a  weapon 
in  a  company”;  VIII,  46,  “From  the  tabu  of  rending 
garments  and  drawing  an  iron  dagger  ”  (cf.  Ill,  36,  “  Tabu 
of  drawing  a  hukannu  in  a  company  ”) ;  III,  57,  “  Tabu  of 
destroying  a  chariot  and  touching  its  riksu.” 

The  explanation  of  this  tabu  on  weapons  may  perhaps 
be  sought  in  the  consecration  of  warriors  before  battle : 
“  warriors  are  consecrated  persons,  subject  to  special  taboos  ” 
(Robertson  Smith,  Bel.  Sem.,  402).  The  ban  on  drawing 
a  sword  in  an  assembly  is  paralleled  in  later  times  by  the 
mess-room  law  which  forbids  a  weapon  to  be  unsheathed. 
“  Rending  garments  and  drawing  a  sword  ”  may  be  compared 
to  the  custom  of  the  Arabs  who  cast  down  their  turbans, 
symbolizing  a  fight  to  the  death. 

(15)  Of  writing  materials. 

II,  113.  “  He  seeketh  of  the  tablet  and  reed -pen.” 

(16)  Of  mourning. 

VIII,  45.  “  From  the  ban  of  rending  one’s  garments,  breaking  one’s 

breastpiece,  and  beating  one’s  breast.” 

Cf.  Lev.  xxi,  10,  where  the  high  priest  is  not  to  unbind 
his  hair  nor  rend  his  clothes. 


252 


APPENDIX. 


(17)  Of  sorcery. 

II,  69.  “  Hath  he  set  his  hand  to  sorcery  or  witchcraft  ?  ” 

Cf.  note2  on  p.  126,  to  III,  114. 

Cf.  Exod.  xxii,  18,  “Thou  shalt  not  suffer  a  witch  to 
live  ”  ;  Lev.  xix,  26,  “  Neither  shall  ye  use  enchantments,  nor 
practise  augury/’  Cf.  also  31 ;  xx,  6,  27  ;  Deut.  xviii,  11. 

(18)  Of  pointing  with  the  finger. 

II,  88-93.  “  Hath  he  incurred  a  tabu  by  pointing  his  finger  at  a  person 

— the  person  of  father  or  mother,  elder  brother  or  sister, 
friend  or  neighbour,  god  or  king,  master  or  mistress  ?  ” 

III,  16,  “  Tabu  of  pointing  at  the  fire.” 

Cf.  II,  7,  “  Hath  he  pointed  his  finger  .  .  .  ?  ” 

(19)  Of  sunstroke. 

Ill,  23.  “  Tabu  from  sitting  on  a  seat  in  the  sun.” 

(20)  Of  beasts. 

Ill,  30.  “  Tabu  against  striking  the  young  of  beasts.” 

42.  “[Tabu]  of  asking  a  man  for  wild  beasts  at  the  side  of 
a  cattle-stall.” 

Here  also  add  II,  115,  116,  “He  asketh  of  domestic  and 
wild  beasts,”  and  for  want  of  a  better  place ;  VIII,  40, 
“  From  the  tabu  of  having  found  chance  oxen  (or)  sheep 
belonging  to  men  and  taking  them  ”  ;  and  III,  35,  “  Tabu 
of  slaughtering  a  sheep  and  touching  its  riksu  (?).” 

Cf.  Lev.  xxii,  27,  “  When  a  bullock  or  a  sheep  or  a  goat 
is  brought  forth,  then  it  shall  be  seven  days  under  the  dam  ” 
(before  being  sacrificed) ;  Deut.  xxii,  6,  “  If  a  bird’s  nest 
chance  to  be  before  thee,”  etc.  Cf.  Sabbath ,  xix,  1,  “If  (on 
the  Sabbath)  one  hunts  a  wild  beast  or  a  bird  which  one  has 
on  one’s  domain,  it  is  not  a  guilty  act,  but  it  is  a  crime  to 
wound  them.” 

Exod.  xxiii,  4,  “  If  thou  meet  thine  enemy’s  ox  or  his  ass 
going  astray,  thou  shalt  surely  bring  it  back  to  him  again  ”  ; 
Deut.  xxii,  1,  “  Thou  shalt  not  see  thy  brother’s  ox  or  his 
sheep  go  astray,  and  hide  thyself  from  them.” 


APPENDIX. 


253 


(21)  Of  uprooting  plants  and  reeds. 

Ill,  25,  26.  “  Tabu  of  tearing  up  plants  in  the  desert,  of  cutting  reeds 

in  the  marshes.” 

VIII,  33.  “  From  the  tabu  of  cutting  canes,  brakes,  reeds,  of  tearing 

up  plants  or  Jcankallu  (some  plant).5’ 

Cf.  Ill,  40,  “  [Tabu  of]  uprooting  plants  (?)  in  a  field”  ; 
65,  “Tabu of  .  .  .  a  reed  in  a  bundle  (P)  ”  ;  VIII,  57,  “From 
the  tabu  of  uprooting  the  caper,  the  thorn,  the  tamarisk, 
(aud)  the  date-palm.”  Here  we  must  add  III,  46,  “  [Tabu 
of]  tamarisk  and  date-palm.” 

Parallels  for  this  tabu  will  be  found  in  Robertson  Smith’s 
Bel.  Sent.,  142,  145.  Among  the  Sakai,  before  they  fell 
trees  in  a  forest,  all  tools  are  charmed  to  avoid  accidents 
which  might  be  brought  about  by  evil  spirits  (Skeat  and 
Blagden,  Pagan  Races  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  i,  345). 

(22)  Of  various  tabus. 

Ill,  32.  “  [Tabu]  of  laying  .  .  .  before  (?)  a  man.” 

33.  “[Tabu]  of  food  (?)  and  drink  (?)  .  .  .  the  way.” 

37.  “Tabu  of  tapalu  and  seal  (?).”  (Cf.  also  III,  85,  86.) 

(23)  Of  tabus  on  various  places. 

II,  120,  121.  “  He  seeketh  of  ship,  hinnu ,  boat,  he  seeketh  of  East 

and  W est.” 

124-127.  “  He  seeketh  of  the  exit  and  entrance  of  the  city,  of 

the  exit  and  entrance  of  the  main  gate,  of  the  exit  and 
entrance  of  the  house,  of  the  street.” 

129.  “He  seeketh  of  the  road.” 

Ill,  61-63.  “  Tabu  of  mountain  and  precipice,  height  and  wady, 

pass  and  .  .  .” 

66.  “  Tabu  from  door  and  bolt  .  .  .” 

VIII,  31.  “  From  the  tabu  of  field,  garden,  house,  street,  path,  dwelling, 

and  chamber.” 

54.  “  From  the  tabu  of  house,  .  .  .  ,  city  gate,  field,  garden, 

and  resting-place.” 

59.  “  From  the  tabu  of  hedge,  .  .  .  ,  threshold,  guard,  door, 

bolt,  and  .  .  .” 

Compare  the  Talmudic  ordinances  concerning  clean  and 
unclean  houses  (p.  186);  also  the  ’Orla,  which  says  that 


254 


APPENDIX. 


trees  planted  on  a  public  way,  or  by  an  idolater,  or  by 
a  thief,  or  in  a  ship,  or  sprouting  spontaneously  are  subject 
to  the  ’orla. 


(24)  Of  forms  of  oaths. 

Ill,  14.  “  Tabu  of  raising  a  gis-mar  and  then  swearing  by  a  god.” 

17.  “  Tabu  of  raising  fire  and  then  swearing  by  a  god.” 

41.  “  Tabu  of  taking  an  irrigation -machine  and  swearing  by 

a  god.” 

43.  “  Tabu  of  swearing  (tamd,  being  banned  (?))  by  sunrise.” 

44.  “  Tabu  of  raising  unwashen  hands  and  swearing  by  a  god.” 
VIII,  43.  “From  the  tabu  of  breaking  a  dish,  shattering  a  cup,  and 

swearing  by  a  god.” 

Cf.  Lev.  xix,  12.  The  story  of  Hector  is  pertinent  here ; 
he  fears  to  pour  the  libation  of  dark  wine  with  unwashen 
bands,  nor  may  he  pray  to  Zeus  when  bespattered  with  gore 
(Tylor,  Primitive  Culture ,  4th  ed.,  ii,  439). 

(25)  Unclassified. 

Ill,  134-137.  “  Tabu  from  .  .  .  and  assembly,  from  dead  man  or  living 

man,  from  male  destroyer  or  female  destroyer  (Zimmern 
says  that  these  are  demons),  known  or  unknown.” 

These  last  two  occur  again  in  III,  164,  165.  There  are 
also  forty-nine  tabus  mutilated  or  entirely  destroyed. 


(26)  Of  the  ‘  unclean  ’  tabus. 

For  the  details  of  these  see  pp.  125  ff.  Add  here  also — 

II,  106-109.  “  He  seeketh  (to  know  whether  his  tabu  cometh)  from 

couch,  seat,  dish,  or  the  offering  of  a  cup.” 

Ill,  19,  20.  “  Tabu  from  cup  or  dish,  bed  or  couch.” 

(Here,  too,  perhaps  comes  1.  58,  “  Tabu  of  drinking  water 
from  a  sarsaru 

VIII,  44.  “  From  the  tabu  of  seat,  stool,  bed,  couch,  and  being  bound.” 

Perhaps  also  III,  22,  “  Tabu  of  giving  or  asking  the 
dregs.” 


APPENDIX. 


255 


(27)  Various  forms  of  tabu. 

II,  83-85.  “  Whether  by  something  loosed,  which  he  knowetli  not,  he 

hath  incurred  a  tabu,  (or)  by  receiving  (something)  he  hath 
incurred  a  tabu,  (or)  by  .  .  .  he  hath  incurred  a  tabu.” 

The  particular  point  to  be  observed  in  this  list  of  tabus  is 
that  many  actions  or  states  are  omitted  which  are  well  known 
to  be  tabu.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  forty-nine  lines 
are  so  mutilated  as  to  be  untranslatable,  it  is  distinctly 
noticeable  that  none  of  the  primary  unclean  tabus  are 
mentioned;  childbirth,  menstruation,  the  k’ri,  marriage, 
touching  a  dead  body  (unless  the  brief  mention  in  25  be 
accounted  evidence),  although  the  'holy’  tabus  are  included 
in  comprehensive  phrases.  The  reason  for  this  is  twofold  ; 
either  the  unclean  tabus  are  such  that  in  their  breach  they 
do  not  result  in  sickness,  but  merely  demand  purification 
(such  as  menstruation  and  the  k'ri)  ;  or,  albeit  they  are  of 
such  a  nature  as  to  bring  sickness,  they  are  so  obvious  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  as  to  what  has  been  the  cause  of  the  trouble 
(such  as  puerperal  fever  after  childbirth).  To  say  this  is 
only  a  reiteration  of  the  theory  that  the  Surpu  series  is 
intended  to  deal  with  the  ‘  unwitting  5  sins.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  may  be  urged  that  although  the  primary  unclean 
tabus  are  not  mentioned,  the  secondary  contagious  tabus  are 
quoted  at  great  length ;  but  the  reason  for  this  is  clear. 
The  primary  tabus  are  in  themselves,  as  we  have  said  above, 
either  innocuous  (with  regard  to  disease)  or  patent  to  the 
most  heedless;  but  contagion  from  such  is  a  very  different 
matter  ;  for  example,  the  lilith  who  regards  herself  as 
a  spirit- wife  brings  no  harm  to  her  human  husband,  and  yet 
will  retaliate  on  any  other  who  shall  interfere  with  her. 
Hence  this  very  point  adds  to  our  demonstration  of  the 
theory  of  the  ‘  unwitting  5  sins. 

II. — On  looking  on  a  Corpse,  p.  35. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  the  translation  of  ana  pagri  ihinnnni , 
given  on  p.  35  in  the  sense  of  having  allowed  the  wax-figure 
to  look  on  a  corpse,  is  valid.  The  passage  is  more  probably 


256 


APPENDIX. 


to  be  rendered  u  tbey  have  looked  upon  me  as  a  corpse, 
similar  to  1.  13  on  p.  152.  But  the  tabu  is  certain,  from  p.  26. 

III. — On  the  meaning  of  gtjzalu,  p.  52. 

gu-za-lal  =  guzalu,  which  has  been  translated  ‘  throne- 
bearers,5  for  gis-gu-za  — -  •  kussu,  throne,  and  lal  ncisiiy 
‘  to  bear.5  This  meaning  is,  however,  challenged,  although 
nothing  satisfactorily  definite  has  been  suggested  as  an 
alternative.  The  comparison,  therefore,  between  the  Assyrian 
spirits  and  the  4  throne-bearers 5  of  Hebrew  and  Mohammedan 
tradition  rests  on  the  evidence  pro  or  con  for  the  exact 
meaning  of  this  word  (see  Muss-Arnolt,  Diet .,  214). 

XY. _ Additional  Note  to  p.  76,  on  barren  women  touching  the 

CORPSE  OF  A  MAN  EXECUTED  FOR  MURDER. 

“  The  remedy  for  sterility  was  for  the  woman  who  wished 
to  become  a  mother  to  step  over  the  corpse  of  an  executed 
criminal,  or  into  a  basin  of  water  which  had  been  used  to 
wash  his  corpse,  or  to  tread  on  a  human  skull,  or  walk 
between  the  tombs  of  a  cemetery,  or  step  over  some  antique 
resemblance  of  a  cat  or  other  relic  of  old  Egypt  (Lord 
Cromer’s  Modern  Egypt ,  ii,  505). 

y _ Additional  Note  to  p.  53,  on  the  connection  between 

Jonah  and  the  Moon. 

On  the  superstitions  of  Arabs  concerning  the  swallowing 
of  the  moon,  and  the  bearing  of  this  on  the  story  of  J onah,. 
see  Gf.  A.  Smith,  The  Book  of  the  Twelve  Prophets ,  1899,. 
ii,  524;  see  also  Hans  Schmitt,  Jona,  1907. 


257 


INDEX. 


Abbreviations: — A  =  Arabic;  Ab  =  Abyssinian  ;  As  =  Assyrian ;  C  =  Coptic;  E  = 
Egyptian;  Etb  =  Etbiopic  ;  G  =  Greek;  H  =  Hebrew;  I  =  Indian;  L  =  Latin; 
M  =  Malay;  Mac  =  Macedonian ;  Med  =  Mediaeval,  Middle  Ages;  N.T.=New 
Testament ;  P  =  Persian  ;  Pal  =  Palestinian  ;  Phcen  =  Phoenician  ;  S  =  Syriac  ; 
Sab  =  Sabian ;  Y  =  Yezidi. 


Aa,  xlii,  245. 

Aaron,  xviii,  219. 

Ab,  month,  in  magic,  As,  141,  209  ; 
H,  64. 

Abba  Isaiah,  6. 

Abbas,  97. 

Abdu  Khadir,  211. 

Abipones,  127. 

Abortions:  as  ghosts,  A-,  H,  M,  23; 
As,  20,  23  ;  not  to  be  buried  with 
body  of  mother,  H,  21  ;  as  demoniac 
offspring,  132,  236. 

Abraham,  xix,  73,  86,  220,  231,  233. 
Abramelin,  xvii,  lx,  170. 

Abu’d-Duhur,  158. 

Abu  Kabus,  227. 

Abu  Mohammed  the  Lazy,  62. 

Abu  Rabah,  79,  80. 

Abu  Zenna,  159. 

Abyssinia,  passim. 

Adad  (Storm -god),  xxi,  xlii,  lxii,  19, 
54,  64,  96,  224,  245. 

Adagur- vessel,  xlv,  26. 

Adam,  xx,  5,  23,  38,  58,  70,  72,  73. 
Adonai,  1. 

JElian  quoted,  xxxvi. 

JEneas,  72. 

Aeneze  tribe,  158. 

JEschylus,  107. 

Africa,  lxvii  (see  Moghrebi )  ;  East,  60, 
237. 

Afrit ,  17,  47,  59,  63,  70,  76,  132,  207  ; 
see  Demons. 

Agrath  bath  Mahlath,  30,  41,  58. 
Agukakrime,  xxii. 


Ahhazu- demon,  41,  43,  100,  192. 
Ahmad  ibn  Abubekr,  xlix. 

Ahriman,  119. 

’ Akikah ,  229,  231. 

Alaska,  184. 

Aleppo,  89. 

Alexander,  xxxviii,  96,  155,  157. 

Alfoors  of  Minahassa,  163. 

Algerians,  62,  211. 

Ali,  168. 

Alkali  in  magic,  As,  lii,  liii. 

Allah,  (xx),  (lvi),  lxi,  (5),  (23),  (30),  42, 
(72),  (74),  (77),  (83),  (226),  (228), 
(229),  (236). 

Allamu,  xxviii. 

Allegory  of  Y ah weh  begetting  children  ,73. 
Al-Nooman,  227. 

Aloe  hung  up,  A,  90. 

Al-Sameri,  146. 

Altar,  26,  130,  157,  194,  197,  198,  199, 

220. 

^4^-demon,  39,  71,  81,  122. 
lAlukah,  63. 

Alum  in  magic,  A,  88. 

Amasis,  10,  222. 

Ameimar,  147. 

Amel-dispu ,  lix. 

America,  South,  241. 

Amorite,  201. 

‘Amr  b.  Yarbu‘,  descended  from  she- 
demon,  70. 

Amulets,  xviii,  li,  lxi ;  A,  xxix,  lxiii,  90, 
106;  Ab,  104;  As,  41,  84,  154 ; 
Maronite,  42;  against  Lilith,  72. 
Amiirrikami ,  171. 


s 


258 


INDEX. 


Anatu,  151,  245. 

Angels,  lvi,  lvii,  6,  52;  H,  23,  160, 
161  ;  daughters  of  God,  A,  74 ; 
guardian,  46,  200  ;  intermarriage  with 
human  beings,  see  Demons. 

Angel  of  Death,  A,  xx,  86  ;  H,  86,  87  ; 
S,  87. 

Angel  of  Lust,  H,  66. 

Angel  of  Yahweh,  73,  78,  86,  220. 
Animal  forms  of  demons,  see  Demons. 
Annual  expulsion  of  demons,  157. 
Anobret,  222. 

Anointing  as  divine  due,  133,  234. 

Ants  in  magic,  A,  As,  H,  33. 

Anu,  xx,  xxii,  xxiii,  xxxix,  xliii,  xlv,  20, 
41,  49,  50,  54,  55,  151,  152,  240,  245. 
Anuk,  1. 

Anunnaki,  85. 

Apep,  149. 

Apia,  xxxvii. 

Arabia,  Arabs,  passim. 

Arafat,  16. 

Arameans,  xxii. 

Arbela,  85. 

Ardat  lili ,  spirit,  65  ff.,  120. 

Ardatu  emphasizes  femininity,  66. 

Areca  in  magic,  M,  lviii. 

Ariel,  160,  161. 

Arihatu  (‘menstruating’  F),  67,  83. 
Aristophanes,  107. 

Aristotle,  157. 

Arkat-ilani,  xxxvii. 

Arluni,  72. 

Arm  in  magic,  164. 

Armenia,  xlix,  liii. 

Arrowheads  as  amulets,  A,  lxiii. 

Arsacid  period,  xxxviii. 

Arsacius,  107. 

Artemis,  230. 

Aruru,  xx. 

Asafoetida  in  magic,  M,  lviii;  Med,  149. 
Asakku  (‘  fever’  ?),  50,  82,  99,  160,  203 
(see  Fever ) ;  not  asakku,  xxxix  ;  Series, 

xli. 

Asam,  176,  179. 

Ash  in  magic,  A,  xxix,  61, 174  ;  As,  139, 
208;  Babar,  201;  G,  174;  H,  lv,  lvi, 
61,  164,  187  ;  M,  lviii,  36  ;  Malagasy-, 
213 ;  Tobit,  lvii. 


Ash-heaps,  As,  177. 

Ashdod,  metempsychosis  of  unclean 
person  into  woman  of,  H,  4. 

^4«z)?w-priests,  xxiff. 

Asmodeus,  71,  74  ff.,  77,  134,  197 ; 
born  of  angel  and  woman,  75  ;  plots 
against  newly  wedded,  75,  134. 

Ass  in  magic,  A,  lxvi,  51,  60 ;  As,  xliv, 
50,  51;  H,  219,  220,  233,  234,  252; 
metempsychosis  of  unclean  person  into, 
H,  4;  Y,  6;  Balaam’s  ass,  4,  51; 
asses’  urine  as  libation,  As,  34  ;  hoof, 
foot  of  ghoul,  60. 

Assur,  xxxi,  85. 

Assurbanipal,  xxxvii,  xxxviii,  10,  55,  65, 
100,  178. 

Assurnasirpal,  xxii. 

Assur -risua,  85. 

Assyria,  passim. 

Asterius,  legend,  130. 

Astride,  H,  164. 

Astronomy,  xxxv  ff . 

Atargatis,  141. 

Ater- meal  in  magic,  xlv,  26. 

Athenians,  xxxiii,  14,  230. 

Atonement,  xvii,  xli,  xlvi,  114,  175  ff.  ; 
As,  xxiii,  lvii,  84,  153,  159,  177-9, 
181  ff. ;  H,  177-81,  182  ff. ;  not  eaten, 
G,  216;  contradictions  between  the 
atonement  ceremonies  (Wellhausen), 
198;  day  of,  119,  141,  182,  184. 

Atonement -money,  182,  225. 

Atreus,  239. 

Augustus,  xxx vi. 

lAulak,  63. 

Australia,  90,  148,  241. 

Austria,  170. 

Aymara  Indians,  184. 

Aza,  44. 

Azael,  44. 

Azarias,  lvii. 

Azazel,  75,  184. 

Azbuga,  161. 

Baal,  xviii. 

Ba'al  k'ri  (one  unclean  from  nocturnal 
pollution),  71,  117,  122,  190;  see 
Tabu. 

Babar  Archipelago,  201. 


INDEX. 


259 


Babes,  danger  to  (see  Labartu),  164  ; 
H,  129;  stolen  by  cats,  A,  42;  charm 
against  losing,  A,  102  ;  mother  dying 
with  babe  at  breast  becoming  ghost, 
19;  new-born  sprinkled,  A,  liii;  Fiji 
ideas,  38. 

Babylon,  xxi,  xxii,  xxxv,  liii,  78,  79,  92, 
178,  239,  240. 

Babylonians,  passim. 

Bachelor-ghost,  see  Ghost ;  married  to 
spirit,  66  ft. 

Backwards,  looking,  in  magic,  171 ;  A, 
171,172,226;  As,  172  (?) ;  Roman, 
227. 

Badagas,  183. 

Baghdad,  22,  27,  211. 

Bags  hung  up  as  amulets,  A,  90  ;  cf.  H, 
146. 

Bahru-ixmt,  161. 

Bakhtashiyah,  169. 

Balaam,  xxv. 

Balaam’s  ass,  4,  51. 

Balak,  xxv. 

Bali  in  Java,  184. 

Ban,  Tablet  of  the,  As,  28,  123,  126. 

Banana  in  magic,  Tonga,  215. 

Banks  Islands,  22. 

Banning  evil  spirits,  see  Binding. 

Baptism,  liv,  29. 

Barbary,  1,  17. 

Bardesan,  xxxv. 

Bdr-egara ,  demon,  40. 

Barley  in  magic,  102. 

Barnabas,  Epistle  of,  106. 

Barren  valley,  200. 

Barren  women  desiring  offspring,  7 6  ff .  ; 
(charm  against  barrenness,  A,  102, 256 ; 
H,  102);  figures  offered  by  (?) ,  As, 
64  ;  Sumatra  sacrifice  for,  183  ;  S.E. 
Africa  superstition,  237. 

Barrett,  Francis,  lx,  68,  91. 

Bar  Shalmon,  71. 

Baru -priests,  xxiff.,  xlv. 

Basket  in  magic,  M,  36,  201  (cf.  163). 

Bat,  metempsychosis  of  unclean  person 
into,  H,  4. 

Bat-men  with  raven  faces,  As,  81. 

Bath  Horin,  129. 

Baths  haunted,  see  Demons. 


Battas  of  Sumatra,  183. 

Battle -ritual,  As,  157 ;  A,  H,  P,  158  ; 
E  (Eth),  155. 

Ba‘u,  xlviii,  88,  205,  245. 

Beads  in  magic,  A,  38  ;  M,  28. 

Beans  in  magic,  Roman,  227. 

Bear  in  magic,  230. 

Beard  in  magic,  A,  38. 

Beasts  in  magic  (see  under  different 
names),  M,  162. 

Beating  to  drive  away  spirits,  A,  60, 
105  (cf.  H,  161);  Y,  31;  Xerxes 
flogging  Hellespont,  230. 

Bed  in  magic,  109 ;  As,  lix,  35,  127, 
165,  166,  171,  208  ;  H,  102,  164. 

Bee,  Book  of  the,  quoted,  6. 

Beelzebub,  xlvi. 

Beer  in  magic,  A,  210  ;  As,  xliv,  187. 

Beetle  in  magic,  A,  210. 

Beirut,  80,  226. 

Beit  Nuba,  207. 

Bekhten,  Possessed  Princess  of,  107. 

Bel,  xx,  xxii,  25,  55,  78,  82,  97,  240, 
245  ;  selects  woman,  78  ;  Temple 
of,  78. 

Bel  and  the  Dragon,  199. 

Bel-etir,  xxxvii. 

Beliar,  51. 

Belit,  xxvi,  245. 

Belit-ili,  188. 

Belit-Nippur,  245. 

Belly  in  magic,  M,  36. 

Berossus  quoted,  xx. 

Besisi,  53. 

Betel -leaves  in  magic,  M,  162,  163. 

Bilkis,  57. 

Binding  a  spirit,  xxi ;  As,  xlvii,  45, 172  ; 
S,  xlvii,  51;  Tobit,  lvii,  74;  the 
tongue,  C,  172. 

Bird  in  magic,  xxxvi,  202  ;  A,  lxvii,  5, 
135,  187  ;  As,  xxii,  41,  49,  81,  135, 
186;  Eth,  lxvi ;  H,  185-8,  252;  M, 
162;  N.T.,  92;  Sumatra,  183.  See 
Bat ,  Code,  Dove,  Eagle,  Owl,  Paradise, 
Peacock,  Pigeon,  Raven ,  Sparrow,  and 
Swallow. 

Bisharin,  10,  60. 

Bitch  in  magic,  xlix,  204. 

Bit  -  Sola' ,  incantation,  xxxviii. 


260 


INDEX 


Bitumen  in  magic,  As,  lix,  154,  188, 
203  ;  G,  106. 

Black  in  magic,  A,  xx,  61,  107,  211; 
As,  154,  161,  165,  170,  171,  188; 
Barnabas,  106;  H,lxv,  lxvi,  61,  211  ; 
I,  xxviii,  iix ;  Lucian,  104  ;  Roman, 
227  ;  S,  92. 

Black  man,  demon  as,  A,  40,  77  (ef. 

107)  ;  Barnabas,  106. 

Blacksmiths,  Jewish,  accredited  with 
magic  in  Abyssinia,  103. 

Blindness,  H,  30,  129,  170  ;  Test,  of 
Sol.,  43.  See  Ophthalmia. 

Blood  in  magic,  195  ff.,  203  ;  A,  5  ; 
M,  21;  Sab,  148;  sprinkled,  181; 
A,  lxvii,  211 ;  As,  208  ;  H,  lv,  194, 
212;  Malagasy,  183  ;  dust  sprinkled 
on,  of  murdered  man,  A,  61;  on  altar, 
220  ;  on  house,  A,  58,  228  ;  H,  185, 
188  (cf.  footnote,  228)  ;  on  door¬ 
posts,  A,  226  ;  on  monument,  A,  227 ; 
on  ploughland,  A,  58;  on  saddle,  A, 
158  ;  unlocks  treasure,  A,  62  ;  lures 
demons,  see  Demons',  feeds  ghosts,  A, 

G,  16;  of  sacrifice,  on  forehead,  A, 
80,  226,  227;  on  skin,  A,  226,  229  ; 
runs  into  water,  A,  231 ;  superstition 
about  bleeding,  lvi ;  H,  115;  as  seat 
of  life,  179,  195  ;  used  in  writing,  H, 
186  ;  to  create  man,  As,  xx,  195. 

Blowing  in  magic,  see  Breath. 

Bludan,  78. 

Blue  in  magic,  A,  lxi,  90  ;  Ab,  164  ; 

H,  164. 

B’ne  Elohim,  72. 

Boar  in  magic,  G,  216;  M,  127.  S  eePiy. 
Body  in  magic,  A,  211. 

Boils,  209. 

Bolivia,  184. 

Bone  in  magic,  As,  xx,  xliii. 

Bone  of  hyena  in  magic,  Ab,  104. 

Bones  of  frog  in  magic,  H,  lxiv. 

Bones  removed,  see  Grave. 

Borhut,  5. 

Borneo,  36,  163,  228. 

Borsippa,  xxxvii. 

Bottle  in  magic,  A,  180. 

Bouda,  demoniac  possession  in,  Abyssinia, 
103,  149. 


Bow  in  magic,  H,  144. 

Box  in  magic,  A,  37  ;  As,  xxvii,  161  (?) ; 

H,  144  ;  Med,  149. 

Brain  in  magic,  lxiv. 

Brazier  in  magic  (see  Censer),  As,  xlv,  lix. 
Bread  in  magic,  A,  169,  207,  231  ;  As, 
xlii,  xlv,  139,  157,  161, 206,  208  ;  H, 
xxxi,  91,  118,  139,  207;  Mac,  207  ; 
Sab,  139  ;  Y,  31. 

Breaking  neck  of  animal,  instead  of 
sacrificing,  H,  194,  220,  233 ;  not 
breaking  bones,  A,  229. 

Breaking  pot,  etc.,  to  dissipate  demons, 
A,  30,  31;  As,  28,  124,  206  (cf. 
254) ;  H,  30. 

Breast  in  magic,  A,  As,  211. 

Breath  in  magic,  A,  73,  168  ;  I,  162  ; 
Ibn  Khaldun,  145  ;  P,  168 ;  cf.  hot 
air  of  Abu  Rabah,  80 ;  foulness  of, 
H,  129. 

Brickwork,  god  of,  xlv. 

Bride,  tabu  against  taking  water  from,. 
H,  31,  32  ;  allowed  to  wash  on  Yoma, 
H,  32;  washes  her  feet,  A,  135; 
snatched  away  by  Mared,  6 1 ;  customs 
concerning,  30  ff.,  135. 

Bridegrooms,  customs  concerning,  30 ff., 
135. 

Bridge  in  magic,  As,  152  ;  H,  117. 
Brimstone  in  magic,  Med,  149 ;  see 
Sulphur. 

Bronze  in  magic,  As,  154,  203. 

Broom  in  magic,  A,  xxix,  37. 

Bruniquel,  239. 

Buffalo  in  magic,  I,  Sumatra,  183  ;  M, 
228. 

Building  rites,  228  (see  Blood )  ;  As, 
xlv. 

Bukhara,  169. 

Bull,  divine,  96. 

Bundle  of  twigs  (?)  in  magic,  As,  166,. 

212,  213. 

Bunene,  xlii. 

Burasu-wood,  see  Cypress. 

Burghers,  183. 

Burial  of  horse  slaughtered,  G,  216. 
Burning  in  healing,  A,  lxiv,  105  ;  As, 
lxiv. 

Burnt-offering,  194  ff.  (cf.  lv). 


INDEX 


261 


Buro,  157. 

Butter  in  magic,  As,  xlii,  xlv,  157,  158. 

Byrsa,  lvi. 

Byzantine  amulets,  42. 

Caaba,  Stone  of  the,  116. 

Cain,  187. 

Cain’s  father  a  demon,  73. 

Cairo,  18,  31,  70,  90. 

Calf  in  magic,  A,  146  ;  E,  222  ;  H,  64. 

California,  184. 

Calirrhoe  (Zerka  Ma‘in),  59. 

Cambodia,  184. 

Cambyses,  10. 

Camel  in  magic,  A,  16,  60,  77,  173,  210, 
227;  H,  xx,  117;  P,  167  ;  Sab,  14; 
in  metempsychosis,  H,  4. 

Candle  in  magic,  H,  119  ;  M,  36  ; 
Maronite,  29. 

Cannibalism,  232  ff.  ;  eating  corpse  of 
man  executed  for  murder,  76. 

Caper  in  magic,  As,  33,  34,  253  ;  H,  91. 

Captivity,  178. 

Carmel,  79. 

Carthaginian  battle  ritual,  158. 

Cat  in  magic,  A,  lxvff.,  61,  256;  G, 
174;  H,  lxv  ff. ,  61 ;  carry  off  sleeping 
babes,  A,  42. 

Cattle  in  magic,  As,  lix  ;  charm  for, 
As(?),  S,  50;  perceive  spirits,  A,  H, 
51 ;  attacked  by  demons,  As,  49. 
See  Ox. 

Caul  in  magic,  H,  194. 

Caves  haunted,  see  Demons. 

Cedar  in  magic,  Armen.,  33  ;  As,  xxii, 
xxxviii,  188,  202  ;  H,  lv,  185,  188  ; 
oil  of,  in  magic,  As,  33,  188. 

Celebes,  163,  201. 

Cemetery  haunted,  see  Demons. 

Censer  in  magic,  lviii ;  A,  lvii ;  As,  xli, 
xlii,  xlv,  lvii,  26,  28,  34,  158,  160, 
188,  202,  204,  208  ;  Tobit,  75,  134 
(cf.  A,  89,  and  the  hot  air  of  Abu 
Rabah,  80). 

Ceram,  156. 

Chair  in  magic,  A,  138  ;  As,  127. 

Chaldeans,  xxxiv,  xxxv,  xxxvi,  100. 

Challox  in  magic,  135. 

Chariot  in  magic,  I,  158. 


Chauveau,  239. 

Chest  in  magic,  A,  37. 

Chicken  in  magic,  A,  62 ;  Ab,  104 ; 

H,  212  ;  I,  183;  M.  228. 

Chidr,  80. 

Child,  see  Babes. 

Childbed,  Childbirth,  woman  dying  in, 
becomes  ghost,  A,  20,  22  (cf.  27)  ; 
As,  19,  131  (cf.  G,  22  ;  H,  21,  22)  ; 

I,  22  ;  M,  20,  21 ;  Melanesia,  Pelew, 
22;  bewitched,  Pal,  135;  woman  in, 
dangers  to,  137 ;  A,  169 ;  charm 
for,  I,  xxviii,  lx ;  M,  li ;  must  not 
see  menstruating  woman,  A,  118  ; 
must  rise  when  corpse  is  carried  past, 
A,  27,  137  ;  visited  by  Obizuth,  Test, 
of  Sol.,  41 ;  guarded  by  amulet,  H, 
72  ;  wears  sandals,  H,  119  ;  see  Tabu. 
Virgin  Mary  assists  at,  138. 

‘  Children  of  the  Deep,’  214. 
Child-witch,  A,  42;  tabu  on,  112. 

See  Labartu  and  Owl. 

China,  xliii,  157,  184. 

Christ,  xxx,  xlvii,  xlix,  lxvi,  9,  (51), 
74,  91,  101,  107,  208,  223  ;  in  Lucian, 
104. 

Christian  superstitions  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  xvii,  lx,  48,  53,  68,  81,  91, 
149,  173. 

Cigarettes  in  magic,  M,  162. 

Cinnabar  in  magic,  G,  lxvii. 

Circle,  Magic,  lx  If.,  lxviii,  189;  As, 
xxiii,  lvii  ff.,  123,  126  (?),  165,  204, 
207  ;  I,  lix  ;  Pal,  102. 

Clay  in  magic,  A,  xx,  38 ;  As,  xx,  xlv, 
32,  34,  64,  81,  84,  150,  154,  159, 
161,  204  ;  H,  xx,  144. 

‘  Clean  ’  man,  H,  lv. 

Clean  place  in  magic,  180,  199  ;  As,  165, 
199,  206,  214;  H,  199  (cf.  238); 
S,  115. 

Cloth  in  magic,  A,  88  ;  H,  146  ;  I,  163  ; 
M,  lviii. 

Clothes  in  magic,  As,  lviii,  26  ;  G,  22  ; 

clean,  As,  138. 

Coal  in  magic,  H,  lviii. 

Cock  in  magic,  A,  51,  62,  211,  212  (cf. 

As,  63) ;  H,  xx,  61,  170  ;  M,  230. 
Cocoanuts  in  magic,  I,  163. 


262 


INDEX. 


Coffer  of  marble  in  magic,  A,  37. 
Cohabitation,  tabu  on  Wednesday  and 
Friday,  Y,  134 ;  in  bed  in  which  child 
sleeps,  H,  135.  See  Tabu. 

Coin  in  magic,  M,  162. 

Collyridians,  207. 

Coloured  threads  or  hairs  in  magic,  As, 
33,  165  ff.;  I,  163,  164  ;  M,  162; 
Roman,  164. 

Colt  in  magic,  A,  62. 

Combing  hair  on  Sunday,  tradition,  S,  51 . 
Consecration  of  priests,  H,  182. 
Consumption,  remedy  for,  A,  173. 
Contagious  tabu,  see  Tabu. 

Copper  in  magic,  As,  187  ;  H,  lxvi. 
Coptic  charm,  172. 

Corascene,  xlix. 

Cords  in  magic,  As,  iviii,  121,  158, 
164  ff.;  H,  164,  170;  I,  163; 
Ibn  Khaldun,  145  ;  M,  162  ;  P,  168. 
See  Coloured  threads. 

Coriander  in  magic,  H,  146. 

Corn  in  magic,  As,  26,  32,  188  ;  see 
Wheat. 

Cornelians  as  amulets,  A,  lxiii,  lxiv. 
Corners  of  room  in  magic,  A,  89,  135  ; 

As,  161;  H,  89,  186;  Pal,  102. 
Corpse,  Arab  beliefs  about,  5,  137 ; 
tabu  on,  see  Tabu ;  looking  on,  tabu, 
As,  26,  35,  115,  131;  H,  118;  S, 
114,  but  see  Appendix,  255;  when 
unburied,  ghost  returns,  As,  8,  13,  17, 
32  ;  of  murdered  man,  ghost  returns, 
A,  61 ;  touching,  of  man  executed  for 
murder,  76  (cf.  256) ;  eating  ditto,  76. 
Cotton  in  magic,  A,  37,  115,  169  ;  H, 
115;  I,  164. 

Court,  Eastern,  of  justice,  172. 

Cow  in  magic,  Pal,  135. 

Creeping  things  in  magic,  As,  186 ; 
H,  4. 

Crocodile  in  magic,  E,  143. 

Cronus,  222. 

Cross  in  magic,  lxi ;  A,  227. 

Crossways  in  magic,  li,  177,  201. 

Croup,  H,  129. 

Crow  in  magic,  xxxi. 

Crumbs  in  magic,  H,  91,  147. 

Cucumber  (?)  in  magic,  As,  165. 


Cup  in  magic,  A,  20  ;  As,  125,  127 ; 
H,  30,  32. 

Curses  on  desecrators  of  tomb,  As,  Phcen, 
10 ;  Nab,  11. 

Cutting  up  slaughtered  animal  in  oath, 
G,  216. 

Cypress  in  magic,  As,  34,  158, 188,  202. 

Cyprian  women,  prostitution  of,  79. 

Dama,  163. 

Damascus,  78. 

Damkina,  xxiii,  214,  245. 

Daniel,  xxxv,  liv. 

Dark  colour,  Iviii,  32. 

Dates  in  magic,  A,  107;  As,  xxiii,  xlv, 
26,  141,  157,  187,  192  ;  H,  144. 

David,  231. 

Dawn  in  magic,  As,  56,  84,  161,  165; 
see  Morning. 

Days,  lucky,  xxx  ff. ;  reckoning  the 
day,  xxxviii. 

Dead  (see  Ghosts)  :  raised,  A,  9;  As,  7, 
9;  G,  8,  9;  H,  9;  Med.  Chr.,  91; 
bones  of,  removed,  see  Grave;  offerings 
to,  A,  15,  16 ;  As,  13  ff. ;  G,  16  ;  H, 
13  ff.  ;  Sab,  14;  obligations  to,  S,  14, 
15  ;  greeting,  A,  5. 

Dead  Sea,  231. 

Deafness,  H,  129. 

Death  (see  Mourning)  :  due  to  God,  H, 
118  ;  angel  of,  see  Angel. 

Deep,  see  Sea. 

Deer  in  magic,  H,  xxxi. 

Deformed  children  the  result  of  violating 
certain  animal  tabus,  M,  23  ;  see 
Abortions  and  Imperfect  men. 

Del  Rio,  Martin,  quoted,  xvii,  xxv,  lxii, 
68,  72. 

Demigods,  132,  236. 

Democritus,  xxxvi. 

Demons,  names  of,  1 ;  ‘  Scheiss-Teufel,’ 
72  ;  classes  of,  2  ;  in  N.T.,  100. 

Assume  any  form,  H,  44 ;  animal 
forms,  A,  57,  60,  62,  77  ;  As,  S,  54 ; 
H,  Eth,  61  ;  camels,  A,  77  ;  with 
cocks’  feet,  H,  61  (cf.  As,  63)  ;  with 
donkeys’  legs,  A,  60 ;  Origen,  60  ; 
dragons,  As,  54  (?)  ;  Test,  of  Sol., 
76  ;  goat,  Sab,  57  ;  leopard,  As,  54  ; 


INDEX. 


263 


lion,  S,  54 ;  ostriches,  A,  57  (cf.  60) ; 
owls,  A,  21,  77  ;  As,  50;  M,  21  ; 
panther,  S,  54  ;  raven,  xxx ;  scorpions, 

S,  54  ;  snake,  A,  57  (cf.  As,  12,  54)  ; 

S,  54  ;  wolf,  S,  54 ;  hairy,  A,  57  ; 
assume  human  form,  A,  57,  62,  77  ; 
Med,  69  ;  Test,  of  Sol.,  71 ;  without 
shadow,  H,  61 ;  invisible,  without 
flesh  or  hones,  H,  44;  N.T.,  100. 

Eat,  A,  58  ;  Ab,  104  (lick  dishes, 
A,  126) ;  devour  blood,  195 ;  As, 

48,  49,  195;  Eth,  52;  H,  44; 
Maimonides,  195;  Origen,  93,  196  ff.; 
Porphyry,  106  ;  S,  51  (cf.  sacrifice, 
A,  58) ;  flesh,  A,  H,  63  ;  Eth,  52  ; 
S,  51 ;  drink,  A,  58  ;  H,  44  ;  smell, 
Origen,  93  (cf.  Tobit,  75,  134,  197) ; 
intermarry  with  human  beings,  236  ; 
A,  68-70,  74,  76;  As,  65 ff.,  132; 

G,  68  ;  H,  71,  73  ;  Queensland,  75  ; 
S,  74  ;  Test,  of  Sol.,  75  ;  Tobit,  74, 
134  (Lilith  attacks  solitary  sleepers, 

H,  70  ;  Satan  seduces  Eve,  H,  74  ; 
demon  in  form  of  woman  as  tempta¬ 
tion,  A,  101,  cf.  Test,  of  Sol.,  71  ; 
have  power  over  woman  without 
wedding  ring,  137  ;  dangerous  to 
newly  wedded,  134)  ;  propagate,  A, 
58  ;  H,  44  (this  denied,  As,  49 ;  S, 
74);  some  sexless,  As,  40,  47,  49; 
take  away  creative  power,  A,  77  ;  As, 

49,  77  ;  die,  A,  58,  61 ;  H,  44. 

Fly,  H,  44  (cf.  Origen,  93 ;  cf. 
100) ;  can  pass  all  doors,  As,  50,  but 
not  wax,  A,  106  ;  creep,  As,* 49,  56  ; 
S,  51  ;  fight,  A,  60  ;  stink,  As,  49  ; 
howl,  roar,  As,  49  ;  ride,-  A,  59,  60  ; 
have  foreknowledge,  H,  44 ;  guard 
treasure,  A,  62,  63  (cf.  xlix ;  Y,  6)  ; 
wear  dresses  of  women,  A,  71  ;  write, 
A,  62  (cf.  46) ;  mislead  travellers, 
A,  60,  90. 

Bring  disease,  2ff.,  93;  As,  48, 
96  (cf.  181);  Pal,  100;  ‘Chaldeans,’ 
100  ;  death,  A,  58,  59 ;  dumbness, 
A,  62 ;  plagues,  droughts,  and  bad 
seasons,  Origen,  93  (cf.  48) ;  malignity 
of  soil,  A,  58  ;  earthquakes,  S,  54  ; 
storms,  As,  43,  48,  49,  50,  54  ;  Med, 


48 ;  dust-storms,  A,  Bisharin,  60 ; 
eclipses,  As,  52  ff. 

Possession  by  demons,  93,  95  ;  A, 
60,  101,  104,  107  ;  Ab,  103;  G, 
106,  107  ;  H,  101;  Lucian,  104; 
Maronite,  105;  N.T.,  100;  Pal,  60, 
101  ;  Josephus,  Porphyry,  106  ;  S,  40, 
92  (see  Madness)  ;  apportioned  to 
various  members  of  the  body,  As, 
N.Z.,  99  (cf.  M,  36)  ;  enter  body 
by  orifices,  A,  H,  115  ;  exit  by  toe, 
A,  105,  106  ;  by  nostrils,  Josephus, 
106  ;  excluded  by  veil,  A,  N.T.,  74  ; 
by  wax,  A,  106;  driven  away  by 
noise,  A,  H,  M,  Mac,  Med,  53  ;  Orang 
Laut,  136;  Pal,  72;  fire,  M,  137; 
beating,  A,  60,  105;  Y,  31  ;  stench, 
Tobit,  lvii,  lviii,  75,  134,  197  (cf. 
Med,  149);  thrown  sand,  etc.,  A, 
159  ;  Eth,  158  ;  laid  by  incantation, 
Origen,  196;  nailed  down,  A,  17, 
18;  ‘bound,’  M,  157;  Med,  149; 
Origen,  93 ;  S,  xlvii,  51 ;  Tobit, 
74  ;  summary,  93  ;  can  be  transferred 
to  figures,  M,  162  ;  from  one  person 
to  another,  and  from  human  beings 
into  animals,  N.T.,  100;  to  water, 
A,  31  ;  As,  28  ;  H,  29 ;  Maronite, 
29 ;  can  be  recognized,  A,  40 ;  are 
offspring  of  human  beings  and  spirits 
(cf.  2,  65,  93),  As,  65,  /l  ;  H,  /0, 
71;  Kurd,  71  ;  Book  of  Enoch  and 
Test,  of  Sol.,  75;  tradition  denied, 
S,  74 ;  are  immature  creatures  or 
abortions,  H,  23. 

Earth-demons,  A,  Y,  59  ;  fear  of 
scalding  them,  A,  Pal,  Y,  59  ;  come 
from  Underworld,  As,  97 ;  seven  spirits, 
As,  7,47  ff.;  Pal,  50,52;  S,  50,  51  ; 
Test.  Twelve Patr.,  51 ;  Zoroaster,  52  ; 
throne-bearers,  As,  47,  48  (?) ;  A,  H, 
52.  See  Appendix. 

Haunt  baths,  A,  90  ;  caper  bushes, 
H,  91  ;  caves,  A,  58,  62,  90  ;  As,  56, 
81,  90;  Maimonides,  90  ;  deserts,  A, 
90;  As,  28,  39,  44,  56,  84,  90,  97, 
151;  Eth,  92;  H,  57,  91,  115;  M, 
157  ;  Maimonides,  90  ;  N.T.,  91,  100  ; 
Origen,  60  ;  Pal,  91 ;  food  and  drink, 


264 


INDEX. 


H,  91 ;  Maronite,  42 ;  graveyards,  200  ; 

A  (cf.  5, 171,  172);  As,  7,  39  ;  H,  29, 
91,  118  ;  Med,  91 ;  N.T.,  100  ;  houses, 
A,  91,  92  ;  latrines,  200  ;  A,  90  ;  H, 
91 ;  marshes,  As,  41  ;  mountains,  As, 
39,  41,  82;  S,  83;  ‘Mountain  of 
Sunset  and  Mountain  of  Dawn,’  As, 
56  (cf.  Arab  superstition  about  Jebel 
Kaf) ;  nut-trees,  H,  91 ;  ovens,  A, 
90;  places  of  execution,  etc.,  A,  61 ; 
Med,  91 ;  rivers,  A,  90  ;  rocky  places, 
Australia,  90  ;  ruins,  200  ;  A,  90,  92  ; 
As,  81,  90;  Eth,  92;  H,  91,  92; 
Maimonides,  90  ;  Origen,  60  ;  Pal,  91 ; 
S,  92  ;  sea,  As,  39  ;  shadows  on  moon¬ 
light  nights,  H,  91  (cf.  Maronite,  42) ; 
spearworts,  H,  91  ;  stone,  S,  83,  89  ; 
temples  and  shrines  where  incense  and 
blood  are  offered,  Origen,  93  ;  thickets 
and  watering-places,  Australia,  90  ; 
wells,  A,  90,  115;  H,  118. 

Der  Atiyeh,  177. 

Der-ez-zor,  89. 

Der  Mar  Elia,  monastery,  101. 

Descent  of  Ishtar,  3,  33. 

Desecration  of  graves,  see  Grave. 

Desert,  xxvii,  165,  166 ;  haunt  of 
demons,  see  Demons  ;  see  also  153, 
Clean  place ,  Lady  of  the  Desert , 
Plain-god ,  and  Scapegoat. 

Destiny,  A,  H,  12  ;  As,  11,  12. 

‘  Destroyer,’  H,  86. 

Devil,  the,  see  Iblis,  Satan. 

Diana  of  the  Ephesians,  65. 

Dilbat- plant  in  magic,  187. 

Dimetu,  83,  192. 

Dinanu,  178. 

Diodorus  quoted,  xxxvi,  222. 

Dioskoros,  1. 

Dish  in  magic,  As,  127. 

Divinations,  A,  As,  xxxi  ;  H,  xxxi, 
147. 

Dog  in  magic,  xlix  ;  A,  lxv  ff.,  169,  174, 
207,  210;  As,  xliv,  lxiv,  49,  161, 
204 ;  H,  lxii,  lxv,  170,  207 ;  spirit 
of  wicked  transmigrating  into,  Y,  6  ; 
‘Dog  of  the  Witch,’  14;  casting 
bread  to  dogs,  see  169,  204,  207  ; 
cf.  127. 


Donkey,  spirit  of  wicked  transmigrating 
into,  Y,  6  ;  see  Ass. 

Door  in  magic,  A,  90 ;  As,  xxviii,  lix, 
208  ;  Eth,  92  ;  H,  1,  161. 

Doorpost  in  magic,  A,  31,  226  ;  lock, 
A,  37  ;  Med,  173.  See  Threshold. 

Dough  in  magic,  As,  xvii,  28,  33,  83, 
160,  206,  207  ;  H,  119,  207  ;  I,  158  ; 
M,  159,  162. 

Dove  in  magic,  H,  xx,  181,  187  ;  not 
sacrificed  at  Harran,  54. 

Dragon,  As.  54  (?) ;  of  Revelation,  43  ; 
Test,  of  Sol.,  43  ;  swallows  moon,  A, 
Peru,  South  Sea,  53  ;  demons  in 
shape  of,  Test,  of  Sol.,  76  ;  Bel  and, 
199  ;  As,  54  (?). 

Dream,  xxxvi;  A,  lv ;  As,  9,  33,  186; 
Maronite,  42. 

Dregs  in  magic,  As,  126,  254  (cf.  Eth, 
148);  savage,  146.  S qq  Lid u,  Refuse, 
and  Tabu. 

Drinking  magic  writing,  A,  lxi ;  H,  iv, 
lxi. 

Dubsag-Unug-ki,  45. 

Dumah,  4. 

Dumatii,  222. 

Dung  in  magic,  As,  153  ff.,  203,  204  ; 
H,  147,  194.  See  Lidu. 

Dungheaps  haunted  (see  Demons  in 
magic),  H,  170;  cf.  As,  177. 

Dusara,  11. 

Dustin  magic,  142  ;  A,  89  ;  Armen,  33  ; 
As,  33;  II,  liv,  33  ;  (sand)  Kurdistan, 
71 ;  sprinkled  on  blood  of  murdered 
man,  A,  61  ;  (gravel)  cast  against 
enemy,  A,  158  ;  (dust)  H,  159  ;  (sand 
against  demons)  Eth,  158 ;  (stones) 
A,  159  ;  equivalent  of  water  in  puri¬ 
fication,  A,  117;  food  of  spirits,  As, 
3  ;  synonym  of  Underworld,  H,  3 ; 
dust-storm  caused  by  demons,  A, 
Bisharin,  60 ;  taken  from  cemetery 
(sand),  A,  171 ;  from  grave,  A,  147 ; 
As,  33 ;  II,  146 ;  from  footprint, 
A,  savage,  146;  As,  153,  154;  II, 
xxxii,  146,  164  ;  mud  from  river,  II, 
164 ;  from  temple,  As,  146  ;  from 
floor  of  tabernacle,  H,  lv. 

Dyaks,  36. 


INDEX. 


265 


Ea,  xxii,  xxiii,  xxvi,  xxxviii,  xliii,  xlv, 
xlvii,  xlviii,  lii,  liv,  lix,  8,  26,  46,  47, 
51,  55,  63,  88,  98,  123,  160,  162, 
171,  188,  203,  205,  210,  211,  213, 
214,  230,  245. 

Ea-bani,  xx,  7  ff.,  12. 

Eagle  in  magic,  H,  xx. 

Ear  in  magic,  Test,  of  Sol.,  43. 

Earth  (see  Clay  and  Dust),  offering 
poured  into,  9,  32,  33. 

Earth-demons,  see  Demons. 

Earthquake,  xxxvi ;  see  Demons. 

East  in  magic,  As,  xxvii,  253  ;  H,  164  ; 
I,  xxviii. 

Eating  with  friends,  superstitions  about, 
As,  II,  15 ;  eating  carcase  of  sin- 
offering,  194  ;  of  atonement-offering, 
H,  212;  eating  magic  writing,  H, 
lxvi.  See  Tabu. 

Eber,  222. 

Eclipse  (due  to  demons,  see  Demons ), 
xxxvi,  As,  xli,  99;  sickness  due  to, 
As,  55  ;  weddings  must  not  take  place 
during,  A,  134. 

Ed-el-jaj,  212. 

Eden,  S,  6. 

Edessa,  xlvii. 

Edimmu  (correct  reading  for  ekimmu ,  3), 
see  Ghost. 

Eggs  in  magic,  G-,  lxvii ;  H,  lxv,  lxvi, 
102,139;  E.  Indies,  156,  163;  M,  20. 
Egypt,  xviii,  xlix,  lvii,  lxiii,  lxv,  8,  10, 
17,  59,  64,  70,  78,  79,  143,  149, 
168,  220,  222,  246,  250,  256. 

Eight  in  magic,  A,  52,  169  ;  H,  xxxi. 
Ekimmu  (read  edimmu ,  3),  see  Ghost. 
Ekurra,  see  Underworld. 

Elam,  10. 

Elason,  xxx. 

Eleazar,  106. 

Elephant  in  magic,  I,  158. 

El-Hejr,  lxi. 

El-IIowwara,  63. 

Elijah,  xviii,  118;  festival,  79. 

Elul,  month,  138. 

Elymas,  xxx. 

Emharos,  230. 

Emissions,  seminal,  see  Ba’al  k'ri. 
Encolpius,  164. 


En-dor,  witch  of,  9. 

Enemessar,  24. 

England,  72. 

Enmeduranki,  xxi. 

Enoch,  Book  of,  quoted,  73;  Slavonic,  74. 

Enquiry,  tabu  on  making,  As,  139, 
140. 

Entrails  in  magic,  As,  xxii ;  H,  197. 

Envy  (Demon),  201. 

Ephesus,  65. 

Epilepsy,  108  ;  A,  101, 104  ff.,  107  ;  Gr, 
107,  203;  H,  102,  135,  136;  N.T., 
101 ;  see  Demons. 

Ereskigal,  1,  48. 

Eridu,  xxiii,  xlviii,  lii,  liii,  7,  51,  84,  98, 
100,  159,  165,  166,  167,  203,  204, 
206,  211;  Incantation  of,  lii,  84,  98, 
159,  166,  203,  206,  211. 

E-sagila,  186. 

Esarhaddon,  xxii. 

Eshmunazar,  10,  80. 

Esquimaux,  184. 

Essenes,  139. 

Ethiopians,  passim. 

Euchitse,  223. 

Euphemisms,  11,  19,  38,  115,  121,  128, 
199. 

Euphrates,  xxxv,  liii,  25,  80,  144,  213, 
250.  • 

Euripides,  107. 

Eustathius  quoted,  19. 

Eve,  23,  72,  74,  77,  118. 

Even  numbers  in  magic,  II,  xxxi,  xxxii. 

Evening  in  magic,  As,  159,  161,  166, 
213  ;  H,  187.  See  Sunset. 

Evil  Eye,  xviii;  A,  88 ff.;  As,  43,  88, 
100  (cf.  39),  205;  H,  89,  135; 
Maronite,  42;  N.T.,  88;  S,  89; 

averted  from  bed,  II,  72  ;  by  beads  or 
headdress,  A,  90  (on  the  Evil  Eye 
among  the  Hebrews  see  Aaron  Bxay  s 
article  in  Ophthalmology ,  April,  1908, 
p.  427  ff.). 

Evil  man  as  ghost,  19. 

Excesses,  A,  79  ;  Psellus,  223. 

External  soul,  see  Ghost. 

Eye  in  magic,  89. 

Ezida,  xxxvii. 

Ezra,  74. 


266 


INDEX. 


Face  in  magic,  A,  211. 

Faditra,  Malagasy  magic,  213. 

‘Fairy-women,’  I,  164. 

Fan  in  magic,  A,  xxix ;  M,  36.  See 
Tabu. 

Farde,  stones  of,  207. 

Fat  in  magic,  As,  xxvii ;  H,  194  ff.,  220. 

Fauns,  72. 

Feasts  of  the  Hebrews,  182. 

February  in  magic,  Iroquois,  184. 

Fedu,  80,  177,  178,  226 ff. 

Feet  in  magic,  A,  227  ;  As,  171 ;  Tonga, 
215  ;  bare  feet,  Roman,  227. 

Female  in  magic,  A,  60,  227,  229  ;  H, 
4,  147,  216,  220. 

Fern  in  magic,  Maori,  215. 

Fever,  101,  108,  210;  As,  lii,  82  (?), 
99  (?) ;  see  Asakku  ;  charms  against, 
A,  83,  168,  211 ;  P,  167. 

Fifteenth  day  in  magic,  As,  56. 

Figs  in  magic,  As,  xliii. 

Figures  of  plastic  material  in  magic, 
xli,  xlvi,  li,  lix,  lxi,  142 ff.,  173,  180, 
202 ;  As,  xvii,  xxvi,  lviii,  28,  32,  34, 
35,  83,  84,  115,  150  ff.,  159,  161, 
203,  255  ;  E,  143,  149  (Etb),  156, 
222;  G,  143;  H,  144  ;  I,  158,  163 
(cf.  examples,  163) ;  Ibn  Khaldun, 
144;  M,  36,  145,  162,  205;  offered 
by  barren  women,  As,  64  ;  of  sorcerers 
in  counter-attack,  As,  xxxix,  26, 15o  ff. 

Fibrist  quoted,  116. 

Fiji,  38. 

Finger  in  magic,  A,  226  ;  Roman,  227  ; 
cf.  tabu  on  pointing  with  finger,  As, 
252. 

Finger  of  God,  H,  97  ;  cf.  ‘  band  of 
God,’  As,  96. 

Fire  in  magic,  A,  lviii,  lxiv,  77,  89,  105, 
211  ;  As,  140  ;  H,  xlix,  lviii,  lxiv, 
lxviii,  58,  119,  144,  160,  220;  M, 
137,  145;  Med,  149.  See  Fire-god 
and  Tabu. 

Fire-god  (see  Nuzku ),  xxv,  xxxix,  56, 
152-4, 184,  214. 

Firstborn  in  magic,  114,  180,  219  ff.  ; 
H,  61. 

Firstfruits  in  magic,  180,  219  ff.  ;  A, 
27;  H,  221. 


Fish  in  magic  (cf.  53),  A,  210;  As, 
141  (cf.  63),  186  ;  H,  135;  Mac, 
lvii ;  S,  141;  Test,  of  Sol.,  65; 
Tobit,  lvii,  75,  134. 

Five  in  magic  (cf.  pentacle),  189  ;  H,  liii. 

Flax  in  magic,  As,  88  (?). 

Flood,  44,  197. 

Florida,  222. 

Flour  in  magic,  see  Meal. 

Flowers  in  magic,  A,  37  ;  I,  163. 

Fly  in  magic,  A,  210  ;  As,  63. 

Food  in  magic,  As,  153,  204,  205  ;  Eth, 
148.  See  Demons  and  Ghost. 

Foot  in  magic,  As,  165. 

Forehead  receiving  blood  of  sacrifice, 
A,  80,  211,  226,  227  ;  ashes,  A, 
xxx  ;  leaven,  A,  31 ;  water,  A,  liii. 

Foreigners  in  magic,  H,  186. 

Forty  in  magic,  H,  118. 

Forty-nine  in  magic,  As,  138. 

Four  in  magic,  A,  52,  89 ;  As,  xxxi, 
xlii;  H,  xx,  xxxi,  102,  186. 

Fourteen  in  magic,  As,  138  ;  H,  207. 

Fowl  in  magic,  A,  lxiii ;  Ab,  104;  M, 
228. 

Fox  in  magic,  A,  59  ;  As,  xxxi ;  H, 
xxxi. 

Friday  in  magic,  A,  77  ;  H,  15,  30,  58, 
145;  Y,  134. 

Fright  from  ghost,  see  Ghost. 

Fringes  in  magic,  H,  169. 

Frog  in  magic,  H,  lxiv. 

Fruit  in  magic,  Sab,  14. 

Fudl  Arabs,  211. 

Fumigation,  A,  lvii,  lxvii,  88,  107,  122  ; 
As,  lvii,  122,  213,  214  ;  G,  lv ;  H, 
107  ;  M,  205  ;  Mac,  lvii ;  Tobit,  lvii. 
See  Censer. 

Funerals,  see  Mourning. 

Gabriel,  xx,  51,  73,  89,  146,  158,  168. 

Gadarene  swine,  180,  208. 

Gaffat,  103. 

Galicia,  30,  129. 

Galilee,  Sea  of,  228. 

Gall  in  magic,  H,  87. 

Galloi  priests,  114. 

Gallu ,  39,  40,  192. 

Garlic  in  magic,  As,  192  ;  Pal,  72. 


INDEX. 


267 


Garment  in  magic,  As,  xix  ;  see  Clothes. 

Gate  in  magic,  As,  xxvii,  lvii,  154  ;  E, 
xlix. 

Gaza,  107,  231. 

Gazelle  in  magic,  A,  59. 

Gazelle’s  horn  in  magic,  As,  34 ;  foot 
in  magic,  A,  37. 

Gentile,  metempsychosis  of  unclean 
person  into,  H,  4. 

Ghadur,  xxxii. 

Ghassanide  prince,  223. 

Ghosts : — 

Edimtnu  (not  ekimmu),  3,  26,  39. 
Return,  2  ff.,  24,  93  ;  As,  3,  7  ;  E,  8  ; 

G,  14;  H,  8,  40  (?) ;  in  white, 

A,  105 ;  from  the  grave,  As,  7 ; 

Hadendowa,  10  ;  Arabic  beliefs,  5, 

27  ;  M,  36. 

Of  persons  untimely  dead : 

Abortions  (cf.  21),  A,  23  ;  As,  20, 
23  ;  H,  M,  23. 

Bachelors,  As,  19,  23  ;  G,  19. 

Dead  of  hunger,  thirst,  drowning, 
in  the  desert,  marsh,  or  storm, 
As,  19. 

Diseased  women,  As,  20. 

Dying  by  fault  of  god  or  sin  of 
king,  As,  32. 

Evil  man,  As,  19. 

Falling  (?)  from  date-palm,  As,  26. 

Harlots  (?),  As,  19,  120. 

Immodest  (?)  women,  As,  67,  120. 

Murdered  men,  A,  5,  17 ;  As,  17, 
32;  cf.  H,  17. 

Virgins,  As,  19,  23,  67,  120  ; 
G,  19. 

Women,  67,  120  ;  at  childbirth,  A, 
20,  22  (cf.  27)  ;  As,  19,  120  ; 
G,  22  ;  cf.  H,  21,22;  1,22;  M, 
20,  21 ;  Melanesia,  22 ;  Pelew 
Is.,  22  ;  with  babe  at  breast  dying 
also,  As,  19  ;  who  cannot  men¬ 
struate,  As,  67,  120. 

The  owl  as  ghost,  A,  M,  21. 

Restless  ghosts : 

As,  13  ;  of  unburied  body,  3  ;  As, 
8,  13,  17,  32. 

Unfed  by  descendants,  3  ;  As,  7,  8, 
13,  32,  116  ;  E,  8  ;  H,  13. 


Return  to  wash,  H,  27  ;  to  sit,  H, 
15  ;  to  those  with  whom  they 
had  connection  during  life,  As, 
24,  25,  32,  116. 

Attack  of  ghosts,  93 ;  As,  35, 
109. 

Fright  from  ghosts,  A,  92;  As,  35  ; 
Maronite,  42. 

Dead  husband  returning  to  wife, 
A,  76  (cf.  women  married  to  dead, 
H,  76). 

Laying  ghosts : 

By  exorcism,  93  ;  As,  24,  32  ;  M, 
36  (cf.  Origen,  93)  ;  by  nailing 
down,  A,  17,  18. 

They  feed  on  dust  and  mud,  As,  3  ; 
drink  water  at  tombs,  A,  5,  16 ; 
eat  dregs,  As,  E,  8  ;  blood,  A, 
G,  16  ;  food  and  drink,  As,  14  ; 
can  speak,  A,  171  ;  pasture  and 
drink,  H,  4;  thirst,  E,  8;  can 
sit  (?) ,  H,  15;  cannot  stand  or 
sit,  As,  7. 

Raising  ghosts,  93  ;  A,  9  ;  As,  7,  9  ; 
G,  8,  9  ;  H,  9  ;  Med.  Chr.,  91. 

Ghosts,  summary,  93  ;  external  soul,  A, 
37,  38  ;  As,  38;  E,  37;  Fiji,  38  ; 
H,  38  ;  transmigration,  A,  5  ;  H,  4, 
18  ;  Y,  6  ;  binding  the  soul,  As,  38, 
166. 

£J!bst-food,  As,  8  ;  see  Bead. 

Ghost- omens,  As,  35. 

Ghost-worship  in  the  East,  14  ;  see 
Bemons. 

Ghosts  of  the  family,  As,  27,  32,  34. 

Ghoul  described,  60,  90. 

Gilgamish,  xx,  xxvii,  7  ff.,  12,  33,  39, 
72,  81,  96. 

Ginger  (?)  in  magic,  As,  lii,  187. 

Girru,  xlviii. 

gis-mar,  254. 

Glands  of  fish  in  magic,  Mac,  lvii. 

Glass  in  magic,  H,  144  ;  M,  20. 

Gnosti,  223. 

Goat  in  magic,  57,  59,  233;  A,  211, 
226,  227  ;  As,  xliv,  82,  161  ;  G,  230  ; 
H,  183,  198,  216,  219,  252  ;  I, 
183  ;  M,  228.  See  Kid. 

Goat-beard  in  magic,  A,  xxxiii. 


268 


INDEX. 


God,  Bukhara,  169  ;  I,  164.  See  Allah 
and  Yahweh. 

Gods  attracted  by  sweet  smell,  As,  H,  197; 
evil  god,  As,  39  ;  fault  of  god,  As,  32; 
gods  of  night,  As,  xxvii,  150 ;  of  the 
watch,  As,  xxviii ;  ‘son  of  his  god,’ 
As,  25,  46  ff.,  167,  206,  245  (cf.  84, 
126)  ;  wise  gods,  As,  56. 

Gold  in  magic,  222  ;  As,  230  ;  G,  lxvii ; 
H,  41,  146;  P,  230  ;  S,  xx. 

Gooderoo,  103. 

Goths,  72. 

Grass  in  magic,  H,  164 ;  Malagasy, 
213. 

Grasshoppers  in  magic,  Sumatra,  183. 

Grave  in  magic,  144  ;  A,  256  ;  sacred, 
Pal,  107  ;  desecration  of,  As,  Phoen, 
Nab,  10 ;  removal  of  bones,  As,  E, 
H,  10  ;  Mahdi’stomb,  11  ;  dust  from, 
A,  147  ;  As,  33  ;  H,  146  ;  haunted,  see 
Demons  ;  ghosts  from  graves,  As,  7  ; 
Hadendowa,  10  ;  bed  of  reeds  prevents 
ghost  rising,  II,  91. 

Greece,  xxxvi,  174. 

Greeks,  passim. 

Green  in  magic,  II ,  189. 

Guardian  angels,  46. 

Guiana,  239. 

Guilt- offering,  216. 

Guinea,  184. 

Gula,  xlviii,  245. 

Gunura,  88,  205. 

Gutter  (-shadow)  haunted,  H,  91. 

Hadendowas,  10. 

Hades,  see  Underworld. 

Hadhramaut,  5,  57. 

Hair  in  magic,  xlvi,  1,  142  ;  A,  38,  229, 
236  ;  As,  lxiii,  lxiv,  153,  161,  166, 
170,  192;  H,  38,  40,  146,  147,  170, 
184;  M,  36  ;  P,  167;  S,  51  ;  Sab, 
148  ;  savage,  146  ;  see  Threads ;  on 
legs,  indication  of  jinniyah,  A,  57  ; 
unbound,  H,  lv,  169. 

Haj  superstition,  159. 

Halae,  22. 

Half-human  spirits,  2,  65,  93,  132. 

Haltappan- plant,  xxvi. 

Hamah,  5. 


Hamath,  58,  78,  79. 

Hammam  Faraun,  59. 

Hammer  in  magic,  H,  161. 

Hammurabi,  xxi,  xxv. 

Hanania,  liv. 

Hand  in  magic,  As,  165  ;  M,  36  ;  hand 
of  God,  As,  96  (cf.  H,  ‘  finger  of 
God,’  96) ;  hand  of  ghost,  As,  35  ; 
as  amulet,  lxii. 

Hanged,  superstitions  about  men,  13,  76, 
and  Appendix,  256. 

Hanifa,  207. 

Hare  in  magic,  A,  59  ;  metempsychosis 
of  unclean  person  into,  H,  4. 

Harimuti ,  78. 

Harlots  in  magic,  As,  247  ;  H,  32 ;  as 
ghosts  (F),  As,  19  (cf.  78). 

Harran,  54. 

Harut,  lxv. 

Hasar  Maweth ,  4. 

Hat  (?)  in  magic,  As,  206. 

Hate-charms,  lxi,  lxivff. 

Hathor,  64. 

Hattath ,  179. 

Haunted  places,  see  Demons. 

Hawk  in  magic,  G,  lxvii. 

Hayyot  (throne-hearers),  52. 

Head  in  magic,  226;  A,  229  ;  As,  33,  38, 
161,  165,  166,  171,  205,  211,  213; 
H,  xx,  38  ;  M,  36;  Maori,  215. 

Headache,  108;  A,  18;  (ti’u),  xlvii,  li, 
47,  98,  121,  165,  166,  167,  206,  212, 
213  ;  coming  from  Underworld,  xlvii, 
82,  99 ;  from  mountains  and  deserts, 
As,  82,  83. 

Headdress  warding  off  demons  (Paul), 
74  ;  evil  eye,  A,  90. 

Heart  in  magic,  A,  61 ;  As,  xliv,  161, 
203,  204,  208  ;  H,  lxvi ;  Tobit,  lvii. 

Heart-plant,  As,  xliv. 

Hebrews,  passim. 

Hector,  254. 

Heifer  in  magic,  A,  lvi ;  H,  lv,  187. 

Hejaz,  207- 

Hejra,  11. 

Hekate,  14,  201. 

Helen,  216. 

Heliopolis,  79  (in  Syria),  222  (in  Egypt). 

Hellespont,  230. 


INDEX. 


269 


Hen  in  magic,  H,  lxv,  212. 

Henbane  in  magic,  A,  xliv. 

Hercules,  72,  216. 

Herein ,  176. 

Hermes  Abootat,  xlix. 

Hermes  Trismegistus,  xlviii,  xlix. 
Herodotus  quoted,  10,  78,  79,  122, 
239. 

Hesy chius  quoted,  14. 

Hierapolis,  liii. 

Hilarion,  107. 

Hindu  magic,  158. 
ffinsa-fle  sh,  158. 

Hippocrates,  107. 

Hira,  223. 

Hisn,  Princess,  37. 

Hollow  stone  in  magic,  A,  89. 

Holy  Gbost,  51. 

Holy  tabus,  see  Tabu. 

Homer,  see  Odyssey  and  Iliad. 

Honey  in  magic,  As,  xlii,  xlv,  157,  158  ; 
H,  lxvi ;  Pal,  102. 

Hoof  in  magic,  A,  37,  60  ;  As,  32,  33  ; 
Etb,  61. 

Hoopoe,  A,  lxiv,  172. 

Hor,  143. 

Horace  quoted,  xxxvi. 

Horn  in  magic,  As,  32,  34. 

Horon,  222. 

Horse  in  magic,  A,  lxvi,  146  ;  As,  50 
(cf.  47);  Gr,  216;  I,  158;  S,  57; 
Sumatra,  183;  Test,  of  Sol.,  65; 
transmigration  into,  Y,  6. 

Horsehair  (F)  in  magic,  H,  144. 
Horseleach,  63. 

Horsemen  of  the  air,  S,  57. 

Horus,  xlv,  xlvi. 

Hos  of  India,  184. 

Hot  springs,  59. 

House  in  magic,  228  ;  As  (cf.  xxvii),  35, 
235;  H,  186,  189;  I,  xxviii ;  unclean, 
H,  23,  186,  253  ;  leprosy  breaks  out, 
182,  185  ff. ;  sorcery,  As,  187 ;  Pan- 
nonia,  72. 

Hulduppu ,  lix. 

Human  sacrifice,  221  ff. 

Hums,  228. 

Hundred  in  magic,  M,  lii. 

Hunnoman,  163. 


Huns,  72. 

Hunting  souls,  H,  38  ;  see  Ghost. 
Hurmiz,  daughter  of  Lilith,  71. 

Hurnim,  son  of  Lilith,  71. 

Husband  returns  as  ghost,  A,  76  ;  ex¬ 
cluded  from  room  of  wife  dying  in 
childbirth,  A,  22. 

Hydrophobia,  A,  174;  H,  lxii,  20. 
Hyena  in  magic,  Ab,  104. 

Hyoscyamus  muticus,  xliv. 

Hyssop  in  magic,  H,  lv,  lvi,  185,  188. 

Iamblichus,  117. 

Iao,  1. 

Ibex  in  magic,  As,  82. 

Iblis,  xxxiii,  xxxiv. 

Ibn  Khaldun  quoted,  lxvii,  144. 

Idlu  lili,  67,  68  ;  see  Demons. 

Igigi,  85. 

Ignatius,  xlvii. 

II,  222. 

Iliad,  251. 

Imina-bi,  86. 

Immaculate  conception,  73. 

Imperfect  (malformed)  men,  132;  M,  23. 

‘  Incantation  of  Ea,’  162  ;  of  Eridu,  lii, 
84,  98,  159,  166,  167,  203,  204, 
206,  211,  212;  of  the  Deep,  As,  lii, 
45,  214. 

Incas  of  Peru,  184. 

Incense  in  magic,  133 ;  A,  lxvii,  88, 
107  ;  As,  xli,  26,  214;  M,  205  ;  lures 
demons,  Origen,  93. 

Incubus,  23,  68,  82,  136,  171. 

India,  passim. 

‘Individual’  atonement,  182. 

Infidel,  5. 

Infidels  in  Mohammedan  religion,  5. 
Intermarriage  of  human  beings  with 
demons,  see  Demons  ;  with  gods,  132  ; 
As,  73,  78  ;  E,  H,  78 ;  with  spirits, 
234;  A,  79. 

Invisibility,  charms  for,  lxviff. 

Invoking  Christ’s  voice,  C,  173  ;  on 
invoking  mighty  names,  see  Names. 
Iphigeneia,  22. 

Irak,  xxxvii,  xliii,  1. 

Irkalla,  3,  33  ;  see  also  Underworld. 
Irnina,  41. 


270 


INDEX. 


Iron  in  magic,  A,  18,  31,  60,  107,  115  ; 
Babar,  201;  Eth,  157;  H,  lxvi,  17, 
146;  M  (?),  20;  Psellus,  137;  S,  83. 
Iroquois,  184. 

Irrigation-machine  in  magic,  As,  254. 
Isaac,  78,  220,  236;  as  demigod,  73. 
Isaac,  a  certain  Syrian,  xx. 

Isaiah,  xxxv,  lviii. 

Ishmael,  4. 

Ishtar,  3,  33,  73,  85,  96, 139,  154,  157, 
165. 

Ishum,  86. 

Ismailiyeh,  229. 

Israel,  xxv,  lvi,  114,  146, 179,  212,  219, 
220,  222,  223,  233,  236. 

Israfil,  xx. 

Issue  of  blood,  H,  201. 

Iyyar,  month,  139,  141. 

Izdubar  (=  Gilgamish),  72. 

Jackal  in  magic,  A,  57. 

Jacob  of  Edessa,  xlvii. 

Jaffa,  105. 

Jallalo’ddin,  69. 

Jamratu’l- Aqaba,  159. 

Jan,  31,  59,  77,  106. 

January  in  magic,  I,  Iroquois,  184. 
Japan,  184. 

Java,  184. 

Jeba,  80. 

Jeheyna  marches,  61. 

Jehovah-jireh,  220. 

Jephthah,  220. 

Jeremiah,  10. 

Jericho,  200. 

Jerusalem,  11,  101,  156,  227. 

Jew  in  magic,  37,  103,  105,  168. 
Jewess,  Karina  as,  A,  77. 

Jewish  blacksmiths  accredited  with  magic, 
Ab,  103. 

Jeypur,  183. 

Jidlal  (Yidlal),  80. 

Jinn  described,  57  ff.  ;  see  Demons. 
Jonah,  53,  54,  256. 

Jordan,  liv. 

Joseph,  10. 

Josephus  quoted,  lxiv,  106,  117,  139, 

200. 

Joshua  the  Stylite  quoted,  96. 


Journey,  days  good  for,  xxxff. 

Judah,  11,  66. 

Juneh,  80. 

Juno,  222. 

Jupiter,  1 30 ;  (Theban)  selects  woman,  7 8 . 
Justin  Martyr  quoted,  73. 

Kabbala,  4,  18,  29. 

Kabus,  or  Kabus  en-nom ,  81. 

Kaff arah,  176,  178,  227,  228. 

Kafr  Harib,  228. 

Kaisah,  11. 

Kaldu,  xxxv. 

Ka-luh-u-\_d(i\,  129. 

Kaphsiel,  187. 

Karina,  76ff.;  in  animal  form,  dangerous 
to  newly  wedded  and  pregnant  women, 
destroying  creative  power,  77. 

Karrhai,  xx. 

Kasdim,  xxxv. 

Kassaph,  xxiv. 

Kassapu  and  Jeassaptu ,  xxiv. 
Kemal-ul-hakim,  xlviii. 

Kerak,  58. 

Kerchiefs  in  magic,  H,  38. 

Keres,  106. 

Keteb  Meriri,  64. 

Kettu,  xlii. 

Khamuas,  143. 

Kheybar,  xxix. 

Kid  in  magic,  xli,  202,  234,  235,  24:2  ; 
A,  211  ;  As,  lvii,  166,  167,  178,  203, 
204,  210,  211 ;  G,  203  ;  H,  181,  233, 
234. 

Kidneys  in  magic,  H,  194,  197. 

Kipper,  175,  177. 

Kird,  62  ;  renders  dumb,  ibid. 

Kiriaten,  79. 

Kiskanu,  lii. 

Kismet,  see  Destiny. 

Kiss  in  magic,  71 ;  H,  89  ;  Pal,  103. 
Kitchener,  Lord,  11. 

Kizriti ,  78;  cf.  Temple-woman  (?),  165. 
Kneeling  in  magic,  Pal,  103. 

Knots  in  magic,  A,  90,  168,  169  ;  As, 
xxvii,  33,  166,  167,  170-3;  H,  169, 
170  ;  I,  164  ;  Ibn  Khaldun,  145  ;  M, 
162;  Med,  173;  P,  168. 

Korban,  Day  of,  A,  16. 


INDEX. 


271 


Kouyunjik,  168. 

K'phar,  215,  218. 

AT’n,  nocturnal  emission,  81,  122,  131, 
132,  133,  255  ;  see  Ba'al  k’ri. 

Kullabi,  45. 

Kunyit  Crus  (Malay),  lviii. 

Kuppuru,  177,  185,  202,  204,  210. 
Kurdistan,  71. 

Kurpu,  177,  200  ff. 

Kusnr r a- ftovit,  lvii. 

Kutha,  xxii  ;  (=  Underworld),  32,  33. 
See  also  Underworld. 

Labartu ,  xli,  41,  136,  152,  161,  240; 
Series,  xli.  See  also  Child-witch ,  La 
Broosha,  and  Lamia. 

Labasu ,  41,  43,  99. 

La  Broosha  (Lilith),  42. 

Lace  in  magic,  As,  153. 

‘  Lady  of  the  Desert,’  15,  151  ;  cf. 

Maklu- series,  Tablet  IV. 

Lahabiel,  160,  161. 

Laila,  21. 

Lailah,  not  connected  etymologically 
with  Lilith,  66;  as  prince  of  con¬ 
ception,  H,  68. 

Lamassu,  liii,  43 ff.,  100,  245. 

Lamattu  (=  ant),  63. 

Lamb  in  magic,  234,  235,  242  ;  A,  211  ; 
As,  xlv,  167  ;  E,  209;  H,  216,  219, 
220,  233,  234. 

Lamech,  44. 

Lamia,  41,  68,  136;  A,  Byzantine, 
Maronite,  42;  H,  41.  See  also  Child- 
witch,  Labartu ,  and  La  Broosha. 
Lamp  in  magic,  H,  27  ;  N.T.,  52. 
Lamsatu,  63. 

Land  of  No  Return,  3,  12  ;  see  Under¬ 
world. 

Langsuyar,  20,  21. 

Latarag,  lix. 

Latins,  82. 

Latrine  haunted,  see  Demons. 

Laying  hands  on  sacrifice,  226. 

Lazarus,  9. 

Lead  in  magic,  I,  xxviii ;  S,  xx. 

Leah,  78. 

Leather  in  magic,  A,  83,  90,  106;  As, 
xxii ;  Maronite,  42. 


Leaven  in  magic,  A,  31;  As,  32,  33, 
204  ;  H,  207. 

Leaves  in  magic,  I,  xxviii,  162  ;  M,  lviii, 

205. 

Lees  in  magic,  As,  153  ;  see  Dregs. 

Left  hand  in  magic,  A,  46;  As,  xxiv, 
xxviii,  lvii,  lix,  27,  34,  166,  170,  171, 
202  ;  H,  xxxi,  164 ;  M,  36. 

Leg  in  magic,  II,  170. 

Leliurium,  69. 

Lemburg  superstition,  21. 

Lemon  grass  in  magic,  M,  lviii. 

Lemuria,  227. 

Leo  in  magic,  lxvii. 

Leopard,  As,  54. 

Leprosy,  H,  liv,  182,  185  ff. ;  explana¬ 
tion  of  Biblical,  188. 

Leuconoe,  xxxvi. 

Levites,  236. 

Libanus,  79. 

Libation,  139 ;  poured  out,  As,  32-4, 
161 ;  into  earth,  As,  9,  32,  33. 

Lilin,  70. 

Lilith,  21,  42,  57,  66,  67,  71,  75,  77, 
120,  133,  136,  190,  225  ;  attacks 
solitary  sleepers,  70  ;  averted  from 
bed,  worshipped,  72 ;  no  etymological 
connection  with  Lailah,  66 ;  counter¬ 
part  of  Asmodeus,  75  ;  see  La  Broosha 
and  Lamia. 

Lilitu,  65  ff. 

Lilu,  65 ff.,  97,  190. 

Lime  in  magic,  As,  lvii,  lviii,  lix. 

Limes  in  magic,  I,  163  ;  M,  25,  205, 

206,  215. 

Lindinger  quoted,  100. 

Lion  in  magic,  As,  lxiv ;  H,  liv,  169; 
S,  54. 

Liver  in  magic,  A,  173  ;  As,  xxii;  H, 
174,  197  ;  Tobit,  lvii. 

Llama  in  magic,  184. 

Loaves  in  magic,  see  Bread. 

Lock  of  door  in  magic,  A,  37 ;  Med,  173. 
Locust-men,  N.T.,  81 ;  see  Grasshoppers. 
Locusts  in  magic,  210. 

Loins  in  magic,  As,  84,  159. 

Looking  on  a  corpse  tabu,  As,  26,  35, 
115,  131;  H,  118;  S,  114;  but  see 
Appendix,  255. 


272 


INDEX. 


Looking-glass  in  magic,  A,  H,  28  ;  Pal. 
Jews,  72. 

Love-charms,  lxi,  lxii,  lxivff. 

Lucian  quoted,  liii,  104,  114. 

Lugalgirra,  xxviii,  lix. 

Luh-Jca,  129. 

Lunacy  charm,  S,  82  ;  see  Possession 
by  Demons  in  Demons. 

Lust,  Angel  of,  H,  66. 

Lii'n,  203. 

Luxor,  22. 

Macarius,  lxv. 

Macedonia,  lvii,  51,  53,  158,  207. 
Madness,  108,  160  ;  ascribed  to  demons, 
A,  57,  60,  101,  102;  H,  102;  N.T., 
60. 

Magharhy,  lxiii. 

Magians,  92,  119. 

Magic,  distinction  between,  and  religion, 
xvii. 

Magicians,  see  under  Asipu,  Baru ,  Mas- 
mam,  Zammaru,  and  Priests  ;  muselA 
edimmu,  ‘  Raiser  of  the  departed 
spirit,’  As,  9. 

Mah,  goddess,  63. 

Mah(a)lath,  see  Agrath. 

Malidi,  11. 

Mahir,  186. 

Maimonides  quoted,  57,  66,  90,  119, 
148,  195,  201. 

Maize-drink  in  magic,  M,  127. 

Majhwar,  183. 

Makan,  xliv. 

MaTclu- series,  xxxix. 

Malacca,  lii. 

Malagasy  scapegoat,  183 ;  atonement, 
213. 

Malays,  passim. 

Male  in  magic,  A,  229  ;  H,  219. 

Malim  Karimun,  xlviii. 

Malim  Saidi,  xlviii. 

Mamit,  97,  98,  123  ff.,  178,  192;  see 
Tabu. 

Mandan  Indians,  184. 

Mandean  superstition,  5. 

Mandrakes,  lxiv. 

Manetho  quoted,  209,  222. 

Manuthu,  11. 


Maoris,  215. 

Marah,  xviii. 

March  in  magic,  Cambodia,  Iroquois, 
184. 

Marduk,  xix,  xx,  xxiii,  xxiv,  xxvi,  xxviii, 
xxxviii,  xl,  xlii,  xlv,  xlvii,  xlviii,  lii, 
liii,  lix,  12,  26,  51,  55,  56,  80,  84, 
85,  100,  125,  138,  139,  151,  160, 
165,  173,  178,  188,  195,  203,  208, 
245. 

Mare  in  magic,  S,  lxv. 

Mared,  18,  61 ;  snatches  away  bride,  61. 

Marga,  Thomas  of,  quoted,  92. 

Maronites,  passim. 

Marriage:  dangerto newly  wedded, 30ff., 
134,  135  ;  A,  77,  134  ;  Test,  of  Sol., 
75 ;  prevented,  Med,  173  ;  symbolic, 
with  a  cow,  Pal,  135  ;  discord  between 
married  folk,  As,  49  ;  H,  170.  See 
Tabu. 

Marut,  lxv. 

Masmasu ,  xxii,  xxiv. 

Massagetoe,  239. 

Masta/cal- plant,  xxvii,  lii. 

Mati-Anak,  21. 

Matku- bird,  liii. 

Mazzikin,  58. 

Meal  or  flour  in  magic,  As,  lvii,  lix,  26, 
32,  123,  139,  157,  165,  204;  H,  lv, 
181  ;  Sab,  139. 

Meat  in  magic,  139  ;  As,  158  ;  H,  135, 
170,  207;  Sab,  14. 

Medain  Salih,  63. 

Mekka,  5,  80,  158,  171,  173,  227. 

Melam  (F),  85. 

Melancthon  quoted,  69. 

Melanesia,  22. 

Melito  quoted,  liii. 

Menstruation,  As,  67  ;  H,  83 ;  theory 
of,  explained  as  evidence  of  visit  of 
evil  spirit,  133.  See  Tabu. 

Mercury,  97. 

Merlin,  72. 

Mesaru,  xlii. 

Mesopotamia,  xxxvi,  xliii,  liii,  6,  50, 
64,  72,  90,  209,  249. 

Mesopotamian  superstition  quoted  by 
Psellus,  69. 

Metaab  (Ibn  Rashid),  xxix. 


INDEX. 


273 


Metawileh,  53,  83. 

Metempsychosis,  A,  5;  H,  4;  Y,  6. 

Mexico,  239. 

Mice  prevented,  174;  in  magic,  As,  49. 

Michael,  xx,  51. 

Midday,  As,  161. 

Middle  watch  in  magic,  As,  35  ;  Pal,  102. 

Midianites,  248. 

Midwife,  superstition  about,  H,  137. 

Milk  in  magic,  A,  20 ;  As,  xlv ;  Pal. 
Jews,  102  ;  human,  E,  xlv. 

Minahassa,  163. 

Minaeans,  116. 

Minhah,  176. 

Minsk,  137. 

Mirandole,  Francois  de  la,  quoted,  69. 

Mirzapur,  South,  183. 

‘  Mistress  of  the  Desert,’  15,  151. 

Moah,  xxv. 

Moahih,  148. 

Modesty,  lack  of,  resulting  in  ghost  (?) ,  67 • 

Mogador,  18. 

Moghrebi  as  magician,  xxx,  62. 

Mohammed,  23,  74,  158,  168,  229. 

Mohammed  el-Ghuffarv,  liv. 

Moloch,  222. 

Molonga,  75. 

Money  in  redemption,  219,  225  ;  cf.  A, 
16  ;  E,  209. 

Monkir,  5. 

Monsters,  As,  63,  81,  209  ;  H,  64. 

Moon  (see  Eclipse), As,  lxii;  H,ll;  S,40; 
in  Scorpio  unlucky  for  weddings,  A, 
134  ;  beginning  of  month  and  waning 
moon  favourable,  H,  lxvi  ;  end  of 
month  favourable,  A,  134  ;  Java,  184  ; 
unfavourable,  As,  209  ;  swallowed,  53, 
256. 

Moon-god,  xliv,  52,  54,  55,  155,  167  ; 
see  Sin. 

Morad,  158. 

Morning  in  magic,  As,  161  ;  watch, 
As,  35. 

Morocco,  xxxvi,  18,  72. 

Moses,  xxxii,  lxviii,  10,  169,  222. 

Mosul,  xxxiii,  xxxiv,  xliv,  lxiii,  18,  22, 
27,  61,  62,  70,  92,  101,  106,  107, 
144,  158,  161,  172,  210. 

Mother-goddess,  63. 


Mountain  of  Dawn  and  of  Sunset,  As,  56. 

Mountains,  home  of  headache,  As,  82 ; 
lunacy,  S,  83.  See  Demons. 

Mourning  customs,  A,  27 ;  H,  13  ;  Pal. 
Jews,  27;  S,  114;  fear  of  funeral 
passing  in  front,  A,  27  ;  Kaddish  for 
dead  man,  15  ;  demons  driven  away  at 
funeral  by  noise,  H,  53 ;  Jews  burn 
lamp  seven  days  after  death,  pour  out 
water,  27  ;  turn  looking-glasses  to 
wall,  28  ;  spirit  returns  after  funeral 
to  wash,  II ,  27  (see  also  Dead  and 
Solwan)  ;  one  who  bears  a  corpse  not 
to  wear  shoes,  H,  119;  burial  by 
heaping  up  stones,  S,  114. 

Mouth,  filling  the,  in  magic,  As,  150, 
151 ;  H,  147. 

Mule,  metempsychosis  of  unclean  person 
into,  H,  4. 

Munychia,  230. 

Munzir,  223. 

Murdered  man  as  ghost,  see  Ghost ; 
superstition  about  grave  of,  H,  146. 

Murderers,  116,  256  ;  A,  lvi,  76;  H,  29, 

115. 

Mustabarru-mutanu,  97. 

Musulleh,  212. 

Myrrh  in  magic,  A,  lxvii. 

Naamah,  44. 

Naarnan,  liv. 

Nabateans,  11,  144. 

Nablus,  105. 

Nabu,  65,  85,  245. 

Nagiti,  230. 

Nailing  down  spirits,  A,  17,  18. 

Nail-parings  in  magic,  xlvi,  1,  142 ; 
A,  xxxi ;  As,  153;  Eth,  148;  H, 
29,  147  ;  M,  145  ;  Sab,  148. 

Nakir,  5. 

Nahpatu,  ‘modest’  (?),  67. 

Names  in  magic,  107,  142,  144,  148; 
A,  30,  42,  72,  77,  148;  Ab,  148; 
As,  26,  158;  Austr,  148;  C,  172; 
E,  xlix ;  E  (Eth),  155;  Eth,  xlix, 
52,  92,  148;  H,  lxviii,  144,  159, 
160 ;  M,  36  ;  Maronite,  29,  42  ;  N.T., 
xxx,  101  ;  Pal,  107  ;  S,  51 ;  ink  in 
which  they  are  written  to  be  drunk, 


T 


274 


INDEX. 


lv,  lxi  ff. ;  not  to  be  mentioned,  A, 
21 ;  knowing  name  of  demon,  xlvi, 

1,  lx ;  As,  xli,  32,  149  ;  E,  149 ; 
G,  106 ;  Med,  149  ;  Origen,  150 ; 
Test,  of  Sol.,  150. 

Namtaru,  51  (?),  83 ff.,  99. 

Narudu,  lix. 

Nativities,  xxxv. 

Nazareth,  101. 

Nazarite  ritual,  182  ;  class,  236. 

Nebi  Yehudah,  211,  212. 

Nebk,  liv,  76,  78,  229. 

Nebuchadnezzar,  liv. 

Neck  in  magic,  As,  38,  96,  166,  211  ; 

E,  164;  I,  163,  164  ;  L,  164. 
Necklace-charm,  M,  21,  22* 

Nectanehus,  155. 

Needles  in  magic  (=iron?),  H,  144; 
M,  20. 

Negroes,  184. 

Neilgherry  Hills,  183. 

Neleus,  216. 

Nergal,  xxiv,  lviii,  lix,  8,  97  (?),  157. 
Nestorians,  14,  114,  115. 

Net  in  magic,  As,  123, 173  ;  Eussia,  173. 
New  Guinea,  163,  201. 

New  South  Wales,  237. 

New  things  in  magic,  A,  17. 

New  year  in  magic,  Japan,  Eussia,  184  ; 

H,  91  ;  New  York,  89. 

New  Zealand,  99. 

Nicknames,  Ab,  149. 

Niddah  (menstruating  woman) ,  118,  133. 
Nightmare,A,81;  As, 67, 81;  Maronite,42. 
Nimroud,  plaque  from,  85. 
Nin-aha-kuddu,  xlviii. 

Nine  in  magic,  A,  42,  168 ;  As,  141 ; 

H,  91,  212  ;  I,  162,  163. 

Nineteen  in  magic,  As,  138,  139. 
Nineveh,  xxxvii,  lxii,  24,  65,  70,  169  ; 

Queen  of,  65. 

Ningal,  245. 

Ninib,  xxiv,  245. 

Ninkasi,  214. 

Nin-tu,  63,  64. 

Nisaba,  lix,  123,  124. 

Nisan,  month,  xxxviii,  207. 

Nu  kati- series,  xxxix. 

Noah,  9. 


Noise  driving  away  demons,  see  Demons. 

Noon  in  magic,  As,  161. 

Nose  in  magic,  A,  38  ;  H,  164. 

Nur-ed-Din,  134. 

Nursing -women,  danger  to,  170. 

Nusairiyeh,  16,  229. 

Nuts  in  magic,  H,  135  ;  Sab,  139. 

Nut-trees  in  magic,  H,  91. 

Nuzku,  xlviii,  lix,  55,  153  ;  s zq  Fire-god. 

Oar  in  magic,  As,  88  (?)'. 

Oath  on  Dei  penis ,  A,  78 ;  Jephthah’s 
vow,  220.  See  Tabu. 

Obizuth,  41. 

Odysseus,  8. 

Odyssey,  16,  107. 

(Ethanes,  xxxvi. 

Offerings,  53;  As,  139,  157,  161;  to 
dead,  As,  H,  13  ff.;  Sab,  14;  in 
gratitude,  A,  169  (?)  ;  As,  85  ;  poured 
into  earth,  As,  9,  32,  33 ;  cast  into 
sea,  A,  231 ;  As,  P,  230.  See  also 
Sacrifices  and  Dead. 

Offspring,  Semitic  desire  for,  13,  64. 

Oil  in  magic,  As,  xxii,  xliv,  xlv,  26, 
33,  158,  188;  H,  91,  135. 

Old  woman  in  magic,  As,  121. 

Olympias,  155. 

Omahas,  139. 

Omdurman,  11. 

Omens  from  ghosts,  35  ;  observed,  xxxi, 
129 ;  from  monstrous  births,  209,  221  ; 
eclipses,  As,  55  ff. 

Onion  in  magic,  H,  139  ;  M,  lviii. 

Ophthalmia,  As,  141,  170,  171 ;  H,  212. 
See  Blindness. 

Oracles,  9,  223  ;  see  Enquiry. 

Orang  Laut,  136. 

Ordeal  by  water,  As,  xxv ;  for  adultery, 
H,  lv. 

Orifices  of  body  entrance  of  spirit,  A, 
115;  H,  115,  129;  cf.  132.  (See 
Skeat,  Malay  Magic ,  401.) 

Origen  quoted,  60,  93,  145,  150,  196. 

Ornias,  71. 

O routes,  79. 

Osiers  in  magic,  H,  170. 

Ostrich,  form  of  Jinn,  A,  57 ;  ghoul, 
60  ;  in  magic,  A,  58. 


INDEX.  275 


Ovens  haunted,  see  Demons. 

Ovid  quoted,  227. 

Owl  as  spirit,  A,  20,  21,  77  ;  As,  50; 
M,  20,  21. 

Ox  in  magic,  233  ;  A,  210,  226  ;  As, 
xliv,  32,  33,  49,  187,  188,  210,  252; 
H,  198,  219,  248,  252 ;  Malagasy, 
183;  S,  51. 

Ozair,  74. 

Palestine,  passim. 

Palm  in  magic,  As,  lviii,  26,  187,  188, 
253  ;  Celebes,  163  ;  Pal,  88 ;  H, 
164. 

Paneas,  80. 

Pannonia,  72. 

Panoi  =  ghostland  in  Melanesia,  22. 

Paradise,  S,  6  ;  birds  of,  A,  61. 

Parchment  in  magic,  A,  lxiii ;  H,  160, 
161  ;  Med,  149. 

Parsees,  251. 

Passover,  129,  135,  182,  231,  240. 

Pausanias  quoted,  216. 

Peacock  in  magic,  H,  xx. 

Peas  in  magic,  xxxi. 

Pelew  Islands,  22. 

Pentecost,  182. 

Perak,  21. 

‘  Periodic  ’  Atonements,  184;  H,  182. 

Persia,  Persians,  lxii,  14,  167. 

Persian  Gulf,  230. 

Persius  quoted,  164. 

Peru,  53,  184. 

Petronius  quoted,  164. 

Phaniel,  161. 

Pharaoh,  xviii,  143  ;  A,  59. 

Pharisees,  xlvi. 

Philip  of  Macedon,  158. 

Philosopher’s  stone,  xx. 

Phoenicians,  xxxvi,  10,  201,  221,  222. 

Physician  prohibited  from  healing  on 
Sabbath,  As,  139. 

Pickling  useless  if  done  by  menstruous 
woman,  A,  119. 

Picture  in  magic,  H,  160,  161,  187  ; 
Maronite,  105. 

Pig,  spirit  of  wicked  transmigrating 
into,  Y,  6  ;  in  magic,  xli,  xliv,  202, 
209;  A,  209,  210;  Abipones,  127; 


As,  161,  208  ff. ;  E,  209  ;  G,  209  ; 
H,  115,  209;  I,  183;  N.T.,  180, 
208. 

Pigeon  in  magic,  As,  49. 

Pilate,  129. 

Piles  for  houses  in  magic,  H,  186,  189. 

Pillows  in  magic,  A,  207  ;  Eth,  148  ; 
H,  38. 

Pins  in  magic,  M,  145. 

Pitch  in  magic,  G,  14. 

Placenta  in  magic,  201. 

Plague  removed,  H,  182. 

Plague-god,  As,  48  (?),  51  (?),  83  £f.,  99, 
159  ;  see  Namtaru  and  Ur  a. 

Plain-god,  xxviii. 

Planets,  xxxv. 

Plantain  in  magic,  Tonga,  215. 

Plants  in  magic,  A,  xxx  ;  Ab,  104  ;  As, 
li,  12,  121, 150-4 ;  E  (Eth),  155  ;  H, 
107  ;  Josephus,  106  ;  M,  li,  lii ;  pulled 
up,  tabu,  see  Tabu. 

Plaque,  magical,  lxvii,  168. 

Plaster  in  magic,  As,  187,  188 ;  H, 
187. 

Plutarch  quoted,  xxxv,  107,  125. 

Polynesia,  95,  125. 

Polyphemus,  239. 

Polypus,  H,  129. 

Pomegranate  in  magic,  135. 

Pomos  of  California,  184. 

Porcupine  in  magic,  A,  59. 

Porphyry  quoted,  106,  130,  222. 

Pot  in  magic,  As,  xxvii ;  broken,  A,  30, 
31  ;  As,  (28),  (29),  (214)  ;  H,  xlix,  lv, 
(lvi) ,  (lxii),  (28),  30,  170,  185;  I, 
162,  163;  M,  lii  (cf.  206) ;  S,  196. 

Potato  in  magic,  Maori,  215. 

Prehistoric  man,  238. 

Priestly  Code,  177,  178. 

Priests,  xviii,  xxiff.,  xlff.,  xlv ;  conse¬ 
crated,  182,  202  ;  allowed  to  eat  sin- 
offering,  194 If.;  when  not  allowed 
to  make  divination,  As,  139  ;  Galloi 
priests,  114. 

Prison,  escape  from,  in  magic,  Ixvi. 

Prostitution  of  women,  Babylonia,  Cyprus, 
Heliopolis,  79  ;  A,  78,  79. 

Psellus  quoted,  xxx,  69,  137,  209,  223. 

Pnhu,  177. 


276 


INDEX 


Pumpkin  in  magic,  Malagasy,  213. 

‘  Pure  Abode  ’  =  Eridu,  7. 

Purple  in  magic,  135. 

‘  Queen  of  Heaven,’  H,  207. 

4  Queen  of  Nineveb,’  65. 

Queensland,  Central,  75. 

Rabba,  71. 

Rabban  Hormizd,  xlvi. 

Rabbi  Akiba,  xxx,  1. 

Rabbi  Ashi,  xx. 

Rabbi  Hanina,  xxxii. 

Rabbi  Hyya,  xx. 

Rabbi  Isaac  Luria,  18. 

Rabbi  Jehudah,  135. 

Rabbi  Joshua,  1. 

Rabbi  Joshua  ben  Hananiah,  xxxiii. 
Rabbi  Meir,  135. 

Rabbi  Nathan,  129. 

Rabbi  Papa,  24. 

Rabbi  Pinchas  ben  Yair,  4. 

Rabbi  Yochanan,  18,  66. 

Rabbit,  metempsychosis  of  unclean  person 
into,  Kabbala,  4. 

Rabies,  A,  20,  174  ;  H,  lxii,  174. 
A«fos»-demon,  liii,  39,  40,  44,  100. 

Rag  in  magic,  1 ;  A,  88  ;  Ab,  104  ;  As, 
153. 

Raguel,  74. 

Rahab,  200. 

Rahabiel,  161. 

Rain-time  in  magic,  135. 

Raising  dead,  see  Bead  and  Ghosts. 
Raisins  in  magic,  139. 

Ram  in  magic,  H,  220,  231. 

„  Raphael,  75,  134,  160. 

Rassad ,  62  ;  guardian  of  treasure,  A,  62. 
Rat  in  magic,  A,  lxvi. 

Ravens  in  magic,  A,  xxx  ;  H,  xx  ;  S,  92  ; 

raven  faces  of  bat-men,  As,  81. 
Reading  shema\  tabu  on,  15. 

Red  in  magic,  A,  xx ;  As,  171 ;  H,  lv, 
lvi,  160;  I,  183.  S ee  Scarlet. 
Redeeming  the  life,  Pal,  102;  the  soul, 
A,  16;  the  firstborn,  180,  219  ff. ;  in 
Rome,  227. 

Reed  in  magic,  As,  204,  206,  253  ;  reed- 
bed  prevents  spirit  leaving  grave,  H,  91. 


‘Refuse’  in  magic,  As,  153,  204;  see 
Lu'u. 

Reptiles,  As,  186  ;  H,  4. 

Resurrection,  A,  16;  S,  6. 

Rheumatism,  As,  lxiii,  204. 

Rice  in  magic,  Borneo,  Celebes,  163  ; 
E.  Indies,  156. 

Right  hand  or  side  in  magic,  A,  46 ; 
As,  xxiv,  xxviii,  lvii,  lix,  157,  166, 
171,  202;  H,  xxxi,  164. 

Ring  in  magic,  As,  lii  ;  H,  lxvi ; 
Josephus,  106;  Pal,  135;  Tyrol, 
137. 

Rimmon,  see  Adad. 

Rio,  Martin  Del,  quoted,  xvii,  xxv,  lxii, 
68,  72. 

River-god,  As,  liv,  214. 

Rivers,  confluence  of  two,  in  magic,  As, 
li,  154,  212  ;  cf.  H,  144  ;  haunted, 
see  Bemons  ;  carry  away  tabu,  As,  lii, 
130,  186,  187  ;  Pers,  168  ;  clay  from 
river-banks,  H,  144,  164  ;  in  ordeal, 
xxv  ;  charm  to  dry  up,  H,  lxviii. 
Robenhausen,  239. 

Rocky  places  haunted,  90. 

Rome,  174,  227. 

Roof  (-shadow)  haunted,  H,  91. 

Roots  in  magic,  H,  164  ;  Josephus,  106  ; 
Pal,  107. 

Rope  in  magic,  A,  xviii. 

Round  in  magic,  H,  186,  189. 

Royal  Tabu,  see  Tabu. 

Ruala,  battle  ritual,  158. 

Rue  in  magic,  Pal.  Jews,  72. 

Ruins  haunted,  see  Bemons. 

Running  water  in  magic,  see  Water. 
Russia,  169,  173,  184,  237. 

Sabbath,  lxviii,  15,  51,  58,  72,  119, 
138  ff.,  170,  252. 

Sabians,  14,  57,  119,  148,  195,  223. 
Sacred  names  invoked,  see  Names. 
Sacrifices,  80,  93,  121,  133,  139,  157, 
194 ff.,  221  ff.;  to  dead,  A,  G-,  16; 
Phcen,  201  ;  to  demons,  A,  58 ;  H, 
198  ;  Sprenger,  77  ;  human,  A,  133 ; 
As,  223  ff. ;  H,  221  ff.  See  also  under 
the  names  of  sacrificial  animals. 
Sa‘dadin,  80. 


INDEX. 


277 


V 

Sadunu,  xxxvii. 

Sadur,  xxxii. 

Saffron  in  magic,  As,  liii ;  H,  147,  161, 
164. 

Safrie,  62. 

Saint- Aiibin,  239. 

Saints,  A,  79  ff.  ;  inflict  punishment, 
A,  97 ;  in  India,  78. 

Sakai  of  Perak,  21,  253. 

Sakilbir-^scvA,,  xliv. 

Saknet  Abu  Darwish,  105. 

Sala,  245. 

Salt  in  magic,  A,  88,  119  ;  As,  xxvii, 
xlii,  liii;  Borneo,  163  ;  H,  89,  102  ; 
Pal,  102. 

Samaria,  xxx. 

v 

Samas,  xxi,  xxii  (Sun),  xxiv,  xxvi,  xxxix, 
xlii,  xliii  (Sun),  xliv  (Sun),  xlv,  xlvii 
(Sun),  lxii  (Sun),  26,  33,  34,  64,  67 
(Sun),  122  (Sun),  126,  152,  154  (Sun), 
157,  158,  160  (Sun),  187  (Sun),  188, 

v  210,  214,  217,  245,  252  (Sun). 

Samas-sum-ukin,  10,  55,  56,  97. 

Sammael,  86,  87. 

Samson,  38,  73,  78. 

Samuel,  9,  24. 

Sandarach,  lxvii. 

Sappan,  xxvii. 

Sarah,  73,  78. 

Sarah,  daughter  of  Raguel,  lvii,  74,  75, 

134. 

Sar-azag-ga ,  160. 

Sarpanitum,  56,  138,  245. 

Sarpedon,  72. 

Satan,  xxxii  ff.,  42,  74,  86,  87,  100,  222, 
223;  the  Devil,  23  ;  the  enemy,  54. 

Saturday,  A,  xxxi ;  II,  15,  119. 

Saturn,  222. 

Saul,  9. 

Scapegoat,  178,  182  ff . ,  200;  no  proof 
of  its  existence  in  Assyria,  185. 

Scarlet  in  magic,  H,  lv,  185,  188; 
threads  or  hair  in  magic,  see  Red. 

Scents,  Oriental  desire  for,  133. 

‘  Scheiss-Teufel,’  72. 

Scorpio,  moon  in,  unlucky  time  for 
weddings,  A,  134. 

Scorpion  in  magic,  A,  20,  173  ;  S,  54. 

Scorpion-men,  81. 


Sea  in  magic,  180;  A,  231;  As,  xxiii, 
xlv,  lii,  liv,  lix,  25,  55,  88,  159, 
205,  208,  214,  230  ;  E  (Eth),  155, 
156;  M,  157,  206;  P,  230;  S,  liii; 
haunted,  39  (cf.  47) ;  see  Incantation 
of  the  Beep. 

Sea-monster,  64  ff. 

Seals  in  magic,  C,  173;  H,  lxii;  of 
demon,  149. 

Seda,  44. 

Sedim,  44,  55,  56,  58;  see  Demons. 

Seda,  liii,  43 ff.,  100,  245;  see  Demons. 

SePar  change  to  were-wolve^,  57. 

Seiyid  Ahmed  el-Bedawi,  79. 

Selangor,  lii. 

Semi-human  spirits,  2,  65,  93 ;  see 
Demons. 

Senecio  vulgaris,  xliv. 

Senjero,  237. 

Sennacherib,  xxii,  12,  40,  230. 

Sephardim,  138. 

Sepher  Raziel,  lxviii. 

September  in  magic,  Incas,  184. 

Seraph,  lviii. 

Serpent,  see  Snake. 

Servius  Tullius,  72. 

Sesame  in  magic,  A,  xlix  ;  As,  xxvi. 

Sesame- wine  in  magic,  As,  xlii,  xlv,  34. 

Seven  in  magic,  A,  xx,  5,  16,  37,  58, 
62,  89,  166,  167,  169,  207,  229;  As, 
liii,  lviii,  lix,  32,  33,  100,  138,  166, 
167,  170,  187,  188,  206,  208,  214; 
Babar,  201;  Borneo,  163;  C,  173; 
H,  lv,  lxiv,  17,  21,  27,  144,  170, 
185 ff.,  217,  252;  I,  162;  M,  36, 
205;  N.T.,  52;  P,  168;  S,  114. 
See  Demons,  the  Seven  Spirits. 

Seyf  el-Mulook,  37. 

Seyide,  231. 

Shabriri,  30  (see  lxii). 

Shade  of  moonlight  haunted,  see  Demons. 

Shadowless  demons,  II,  61. 

Shalameans,  11. 

Shammar,  xxix. 

Shans  of  China,  184. 

Shaving  in  magic,  A,  xxxi,  229  ;  As, 
153  ;  S,  114. 

Sheba,  57. 

Shebat,  56. 


278 


INDEX. 


Sheep,  A,  16,  226,  227,  229,  231  ;  Ab, 
104;  As,  49,  50  ff.,  157;  H,  219, 
233,  252  ;  Malagasy,  213;  S,  51. 

Shem,  9. 

Shemal,  139. 

Sheol,  3,  4,  6,  9,  234  ;  see  Underworld. 

Shewbread,  207. 

Sbi’ab  tradition,  28. 

Sbibbeta,  129. 

Ships  in  magic,  154 ff.;  A,  231  ;  As, 
230,  253 ;  H,  186,  189,  254  ;  E,  1. 

Sbitil,  5. 

Shoes  worn  by  women  in  childbed,  H, 
119;  but  [not  by  one  carrying  corpse, 
H,  119;  in  magic,  As,  153;  H,  184. 

Shoulders  in  magic,  A,  211 ;  I,  163. 

Shroud  in  magic,  H,  169. 

Sibylline  books,  xxxvi. 

Sickness  due  to  demons  (see  Demons), 
As,  96;  Celebes,  163;  N.T.,  ‘Chal¬ 
deans,’  100 ;  to  eclipse,  As,  55  ;  to 
saints,  A,  97  ;  to  gods,  96 ;  to  breach 
of  tabu,  96,  119,  191  ff.,  218;  to 
unwashed  bands,  129;  to  eating  fish 
or  dates,  141;  to  crossing  a  river,  141. 

Si’lat,  70. 

Silk  in  magic,  A,  Ixvii ;  Ab,  164;  H, 
xx ;  I,  164. 

Siloam,  31. 

Silver  in  magic,  A,  xxix,  lxiii,  89 ;  P, 
lxii. 

Simon  of  Samaria,  xxx. 

Sin,  xxiv,  xxvi,  xxxix,  55,  245  ;  see 
Moon- god. 

Sin,  193  ;  origin  of ,  among  Semites,  128. 

Sin-offering,  182 ff.,  194,  216,  218,243. 

Sinai,  117. 

Sinaitic  Peninsula,  xliv,  lviii,  lxiii,  40, 
59,  89,  159,  173. 

Sin  jar  Hills,  6. 

Sippar,  xxi,  xxii. 

Sirens,  68. 

S’irim,  57,  59. 

Sisters,  two  marrying  on  the  same  day 
tabu,  H,  135. 

Sitlamtaea,  lix. 

Sit-napishtim,  12. 

Situa,  184. 

Six  in  magic,  H,  xxxi,  102. 


Sixty  in  magic,  H,  91. 

Skimming -spoon  in  magic,  H,  118. 

Skin  in  magic,  A,  211  ;  As,  187  ;  Eth, 
148. 

Skull  in  magic,  A,  256. 

Sleep,  A,  xxx ;  magic  does  not  work  if 
sorcerer  is  asleep,  A,  xxxii. 

Smoke  in  magic,  H,  lxviii. 

Snake  in  magic,  A,  20  ;  As,  12,  49,  54, 
63,  64;  E,  xviii,  xix ;  H,  xxxi;  S, 
54  ;  form  of  Jinn,  57. 

Soda ,  Arab  demon,  107. 

Solomon,  57,  77,  106,  150,  180,  231  ; 
Baths  of,  79. 

Solwdn,  147. 

Son  of  God,  73,  74  ;  see  B'ne  Elohim. 

Soudan,  xxxvi,  lxiii,  10,  11,  60. 

Soul,  see  Ghost ;  hymn  of,  S,  5  ;  beliefs 
concerning,  3  ff .  ;  transmigration  of, 
see  Ghost ;  external  soul,  see  Ghost. 

South  Sea  Islands,  53. 

Sozomen  quoted,  79,  107. 

Spain  (‘  ex  Gagate’),  lxii. 

Sparrow  in  magic,  A,  37. 

Speaking  with  tabooed  person  renders 
tabu,  Sab,  119. 

Spearworts  in  magic,  II,  91. 

(repay la,  216. 

Spices  in  magic,  H,  147  ;  M,  lii. 

Spinning  in  magic,  As,  lxiv,  166,  167, 
171 ;  P,  167. 

Spirit,  see  Demons ,  Ghosts  ;  spirit-wife, 
66,  67  ;  classes  of,  2. 

Spitting  in  magic,  Homan,  227. 

Spittle  in  magic,  33,  145  ;  A,  xv,  89, 
107,  147,  168  ;  As,  33,  153,  185, 
206  ;  Ibn  Khaldun,  145  ;  M,  22,  36  ; 
N.T.,  147  ;  Psellus,  xxx. 

Sprenger  quoted,  xxx,  lxiv,  69,  77. 

Spring  in  magic,  A,  211. 

Square  in  magic,  H,  186,  189. 

St.  Anthony,  54,  105. 

St.  Cyprian,  42. 

St.  George,  231. 

St.  John,  liv. 

St.  Maxime  de  Turin,  53. 

St.  Nino,  33. 

St.  Paul,  xxx,  74. 

St.  Peter,  lxvi. 


INDEX 


279 


Stag  in  magic,  Abipones,  127. 

Stench  drives  away  demons,  see  Demons. 

Stick  in  magic,  H,  xxxi. 

Stolen  money  to  be  restored  by  magic, 
A,  62. 

Stone  in  magic,  A,  xxxiii,  89,  15Sff.  ; 
As,  lxiii ;  H,  lxviii,  18,  207 ;  I,  lix  ; 
S,  83,  89  ;  Y,  31  ;  Philosopher’s 
Stone,  xx. 

Stones  thrown  by  demons,  A,  18. 

Storm-god,  see  Adad. 

Storms  caused  by  demons,  As,  43,  48, 
54 ;  Med,  48. 

Strabo  quoted,  xxxv. 

Street  (market-place,  broad  places)  in 
magic,  As,  41,  43,  44,  47,  129,  160, 
166,  204,  213. 

Suakin,  xxxvi. 

Subari,  xxiii. 

Subarti,  240. 

Substitutes  in  magic,  103,  163,  178, 
180,  183,  195,  202,  218;  A,  177, 
229;  As,  178,  206,  208,  211;  G, 
230;  H,  212  (cf.  225,  226  ff.)  ;  M, 
162,  230;  N.T.,  209. 

Succuba,  succubus,  23,  68  ff.,  171. 

Suez,  40. 

Sugar  in  magic,  Pal,  102. 

Sulphur  in  magic,  G,  106  ;  M,  lviii. 
See  Brimstone. 

v 

Suma,  xxxvii. 

Suma-ukina,  xxxvii. 

Sumatra,  183. 

y 

/S^wtf-flesh,  158. 

Sumerians,  178. 

Summer  in  magic,  135. 

Sun  (see  Samas),  Esquimaux,  184;  H, 
11;  South  Sea  Islands,  53;  unclean 
woman  not  allowed  to  see,  133  ;  sun¬ 
rise  in  magic,  A,  159  ;  As,  xxvii, 
xlii,  165,  254  ;  sunset  in  magic,  As, 
xxvii,  56,  187,  217  ;  M,  lviii. 

y 

u  Surpu-series,  xxxix. 

Surrounding  with  water,  H,  107 ;  with 
meal,  As,  204  ;  with  lime,  As,  lvii  ff. 
See  also  Circle. 

Swallows  in  magic,  A,  61  ;  As,  49  ; 
Sumatra,  183. 

Sweat  in  magic,  Eth,  148. 


Sweetmeats  in  magic,  Pal,  102  ;  Sab,  14. 

Sword  in  magic,  see  Iron. 

“  Sword  of  Moses,”  lxviii,  169. 

Sympathetic  magic,  142ff.,  173,  178. 

Syria,  passim. 

Tabarjan,  14. 

Tabernacle,  lv,  130. 

Tabernacles,  Feast  of,  182. 

Table  in  magic,  As,  xlii,  25. 

Tabu,  xxi,  xxii,  xxxix,  xl,  liv,  lxvii, 
95 ff. ,  108ff.,  130  ff.,  178,  180ff.,  231, 
245 ff.;  contagious,  30,  108,  125 ff., 
182,  190  ;  H,  Maori,  215  ;  holy,  110, 
245;  unclean,  110,  254;  touching 
herein ,  H,  176,  215  ;  speaking  with 
tabooed  person,  As,  Sab,  1 19 ;  cleansed, 
As,  186  ;  overcome  by  magic,  As,  165. 

—  on  adultery,  247.  ’ 

—  on  beasts,  252 ;  M,  23 ;  passing 
under  the  rope  of  a  camel,  or  under 
the  camel  itself,  or  betweeu  two 
camels,  H,  117. 

—  on  bribery,  249. 

—  on  cardinal  sins,  125,  128  ;  H,  182. 
See  also  under  the  names. 

—  on  clothes,  etc.  ;  clean  clothes,  As, 
139  ;  wearing  phylacteries,  H,  15 ; 
putting  on  shoes,  H,  119,  184. 

—  on  cursing,  139. 

—  on  dead  bodies,  109,  112,  190;  A, 
27,  118,  210;  As,  26,  27,  115, 
131  ff.,  254;  H,  lvi,  17,  27,  118, 
182,  255  ;  Iamblichus,  117;  S,  114; 
Tobit,  114  ;  passing  odour  of  carcase, 
H,  117 ;  sleeping  in  a  cemetery, 
H,  29. 

—  on  dregs,  As,  126,  254  (cf.  153). 

—  on  easing  nature,  A,  116  ;  H,  132. 

—  on  families,  246,  247. 

—  on  fire,  250,  252  ;  As,  140,  254; 
II,  139.  (See  also  Skeat,  Malay  Magic, 
319.) 

—  on  food,  H,  184;  eating  with  friends, 
H,  15 ;  things  cooked  in  fire  (on 
Sabbath),  As,  139  ;  half-baked  bread 
or  meat  taken  with  askimming-spoon, 
H,  118;  bread  cooked  in  ashes  or 
cooked  meat,  As,  139  ;  eating  totems, 


280 


INDEX. 


191  ;  giving  totems  (animals)  to  dogs 
to  eat,  Abipones,  127  ;  eating  torn 
flesh,  H,  207  ;  upsetting  maize  drink, 
Abipones,  127 ;  drinking  vegetables  (?), 
As,  140  (cf.  254)  ;  drinking  water 
drawn  overnight,  H,  29 ;  drinking 
from  a  graveyard  well,  H,  118. 

Tabu  on  lying,  248  ;  H,  182. 

—  on  mourning,  251. 

—  on  murder,  257. 

—  on  murderers,  116. 

—  on  nail-parings  being  scattered,  H,  29. 

—  on  oaths,  254  ;  G,  216  ff. ;  H,  182, 
215,  216  ff. 

—  on  offerings,  139,  246. 

—  on  perfume,  H,  184. 

—  on  physician’s  work,  139. 

—  on  plants,  pulling  up,  253  ;  As',  140  ; 
M,  22  (cf.  xxxi,  165). 

—  on  pointing  with  finger,  252. 

—  on  priestly  tabus,  As,  139  ;  H,  182, 
202. 

—  on  prisoners,  247. 

—  on  riding  forth,  139. 

—  Royal,  As,  138  ff.,  202  ;  H,  182, 
202 ;  Tonga,  215. 

—  Sabbath,  138  ;  H,  252 ;  speaking 
loudly,  As,  139,  140  ;  riding,  As, 
139  ;  making  enquiry,  As,  139 ; 
cooking,  H,  139  (cf.  As,  139). 

—  on  sedition,  249. 

—  on  seeing  the  sun,  126. 

—  on  sexual  functions  (113,  116): 
marriage,  113,  134 ff . ;  A,  116  ff.; 
As,  121  ff.,  131,  255;  H,  116 ff., 
184;  Iamblichus,  117 ;  Min,  116; 
cohabitation  in  bed  where  child  sleeps, 
H,  135  ;  two  sisters  marrying  on  same 
day,  H,  135;  intercourse  with  bond¬ 
maid  promised  to  another,  H,  182; 
menstruation,  113,  190;  A,  116  ff.; 
As,  120  ff.,  126,  131,  255  ;  H,  116  ff., 
136  ;  P,  251  ;  S,  116  ;  issues,  113, 
190;  As,  121  ff.,  131,  255;  H,  117, 
182;  childbirth,  112,  113,  134  ff . , 
190;  As,  122,  131,  135,  255;  H, 
136,  182. 

—  on  sorcery,  252. 

—  on  speech,  loose,  249. 


Tabu  on  stealing  and  cheating,  248. 

—  on  strife,  stirring  up,  128. 

—  on  sunstroke,  As,  252. 

—  Tribal,  182. 

—  on  various  places  (253)  :  threshing- 
floor,  winnowing  fan  (and  meal),  251. 

—  on  vessels,  30. 

—  on  voice  raised  (cf.  xxxi),  139,  140. 

—  on  washing,  H,  14,  32,  140,  184  ; 
unwashed  hands,  120,  129 ff.;  tabu 
removed  by  washing,  H,  130.  See  also 
Washing. 

—  on  water,  250 ;  on  pouring  out, 
H,  28  ;  on  the  ground,  A,  Pal,  Y, 
59 ;  on  passing  under  a  bridge  over 
a  dry  watercourse,  H,  117  ;  from 
unclean,  I,  163.  See  also,  on 
Washing. 

—  on  weapons,  251.  (See  also  Skeat, 
Malay  Magic ,  258,  259.) 

—  on  women  :  a  woman  passing  between 
two  men,  or  a  man  passing  between 
two  women  (risk  of  menstruous  tabu  ?), 
H,  117  ;  widowhood,  A,  135. 

—  on  work,  138  ff. 

—  on  writing  materials,  251. 

Tacitus  quoted,  liii. 

Tak-i-Bustan,  lxii. 

Takpirtu,  xxxviii,  177. 

Tallow  in  magic,  As,  xxvii,  154,  158  ; 
Maronite,  29.  See  Wax. 

Tamar,  66. 

Tamarisk  in  magic,  A,  88,  253  ;  As, 
xxiii,  lii,  lviii,  187,  188. 

Tammuz,  3,  203 ;  month,  64,  139. 

Tanta,  79. 

Tantalus,  239. 

Taper  in  magic,  M,  62  ;  see  Torch. 

Tasmit,  245. 

Tearing  up  plants  in  magic,  As,  165  ; 
see  Tabu. 

Teima,  53. 

Teiresias,  8. 

Tellal,  xxix. 

T  ell-el-kadi,  80. 

Temple,  93 ;  of  Bel,  78 ;  of  Ezida,  xxxvii; 
of  Hierapolis,  liii ;  of  Jerusalem,  117  ; 
of  Samas,  xxii  ;  of  Theban  Jupiter, 
78 ;  fire-temple,  92. 


INDEX. 


281 


Ten  in  magic,  H,  xxxi ;  M,  lii. 

Tent,  sacrifice  for,  228. 

Terah,  222. 

Terebinth  in  magic,  139. 

Tertullian  quoted,  9. 

Test  of  amulet,  lxiii. 

Thabatha,  107. 

Theban  Jupiter  selects  woman,  78. 

Theft  (stolen  money)  to  be  restored  by 
magic,  A,  62. 

Thickets  haunted,  90. 

Thigh,  158 ;  of  woman,  swelling,  H, 
lv  ;  of  camel  in  magic,  Sab,  14. 

Thirty  in  magic,  As,  209  ;  S,  114. 

Thirty-six  in  magic,  As,  xlii. 

Thomas  of  Marga  quoted,  92. 

Thorn  in  magic,  A,  lviii ;  As,  33  (?), 
34,  206,  253. 

Threads  in  magic,  A,  lxvii,  169  ;  H, 
lxvii,  146  ;  coloured  or  variegated  (see 
Coloured  and  Cord),  A,  169;  As, 
33,  165,  170;  H,  146  ;  L,  164;  M, 
162. 

Three  in  magic,  A,  lxvii,  37,  38,  42,  89  ; 
As,  xxvi,  xlii,  xliv,  xlv,  Ixiv,  26,  34, 
157,  161,  167,  171,  214;  E,  222; 
H,  53,  89,  129, 144  (?),  146,  186,  189, 
212 ;  I,  xxviii,  163,  164  ;  M,  lviii, 
162,  205  ;  Maronite,  29  ;  P,  168 ; 
Roman,  227 ;  Test,  of  Sol.,  43. 

Three  hundred  and  sixty  in  magic,  As, 
xlv. 

Threshold  in  magic,  135  ;  A,  17,  30,  77, 
227,  228;  As,  xxvi,  lix,  lxiv,  152, 
188;  H,  89,  170;  M,  lviii;  Pal, 
102;  S,  115. 

Throne  of  God,  A,  5,  52. 

Throne-bearers,  47,  48,  52 ;  but  see 
Appendix,  256. 

Thunder  in  magic,  A,  171  ;  bolt,  As, 
lxii ;  stone,  H,  161. 

Tiamat,  xl,  195. 

Tiberias,  18. 

Tigris,  xxxv,  lvii,  25. 

Tigritiya,  Abyssinian  madness,  104. 

TVi- series,  xli. 

Timarchides  quoted,  130. 

Timor-laut,  156. 

Tisri,  month,  xxxviii,  14,  210,  212. 


Tobacco  in  magic,  Borneo,  163 ;  E. 
Indies,  156. 

Tobias,  lvii,  74,  75,  134. 

Tobit,  lvii,  114,  134;  cf.  135  for  similar 
story. 

Toe,  place  of  exit  for  demon,  A,  105,  106. 

Tomb,  see  Grave. 

Tonga,  215. 

Tongue  in  magic,  C,  etc.,  172. 

Tonquin,  184. 

Tooth  in  magic,  A,  xliv,  174;  As,  xliii, 
xliv  ;  China,  M,  xliii. 

Torch  in  magic,  As,  lvii,  28,  160,  202, 
204,  208  ;  see  Taper. 

Torn  flesh,  H,  207. 

Tortoise  in  magic,  As,  33  (?) ;  Abipones, 
127. 

Totems,  191,  221,  235. 

.Touching  corpse  of  man  executed  for 
murder,  A,  76  (cf.  Appendix,  256). 

Touching  unclean  things,  see  Tabu. 

Towel  in  magic,  H,  27. 

Transference  of  spirits  to  water,  see 
Demons  ;  to  animals  and  wax  figures, 
see  Atonement. 

Transmigration,  4ff.  ;  H,  18,  29. 

Treasures,  xlix,  62. 

Trees  in  magic,  xviii,  201 ;  H,  xxxii ; 
S,  xlvii. 

Trespass  offering,  177,  180,  182. 

Trinity,  lx,  51. 

Tripoli,  17. 

Trumpet  in  magic,  A,  5  ;  H,  21,  53. 

Tuesday  in  magic,  H,  30,  58. 

Tumru ,  139. 

Tuna,  Esquimaux  spirit,  184. 

Turning  seats  upside  down  after  death, 
H,  15. 

Twelve  in  magic,  As,  xlii,  161. 

Twenty  in  magic,  As,  xxxi,  141. 

Twenty-eight  in  magic,  As,  138. 

Twenty-five  in  magic,  As,  xxxi. 

Twenty-one  in  magic,  As,  138;  I,  164. 

Twenty-seven  in  magic,  As,  210. 

Twenty- two  in  magic,  As,  xxxi ;  I,  164. 

Twigs  in  magic,  As,  166,  212,  213. 

Two  in  magic,  A,  lxvii,  46 ;  As,  xxxi, 
xlv,  li,  lix,  165,  166,  202,  204,  212; 
H,  lxvii,  46,  144,  164,  200;  M,  22  ; 


282 


INDEX. 


S,  liii;  see  Coloured  for  two-coloured 
cords. 

Two  Brothers,  Tale  of  the,  37. 

Tyndareus,  216. 

Tyrol,  137. 

Uhuti,  78. 

Ultz  (Westphalia),  239. 

TJmm-el-Subyan ,  42. 

Unas,  xlix. 

Unburied  ghost,  see  Ghost. 

Unclean:  beasts,  4,  191,  215 If.  ;  food, 
203  ;  place,  H,  91,  200. 

Underworld,  A,  5,  58  ;  As,  xlvii,  3,  8, 
12,  49,  82,  97,  99  ;  E,  xlix,  8  ;  Eth, 
6  ;  H,  3,  4  ;  Melanesia,  22  ;  (Kutha), 
32,  33  ;  (Ekurra),  58,  82.  See  Sheol. 

Unguent  in  magic,  A,  xxx  ;  As,  liii, 
35,  152,  161  (?). 

Unripe  things  in  magic,  H,  135. 

Untimely  birth  as  ghost,  see  Abortion. 

Untimely  dead  as  ghost,  see  Ghost. 

Unwashed  hands  in  magic,  As,  120 ; 
see  Tabu. 

1  Unwitting’  sins,  182,  191  ff.  ;  cf.  255. 

JJpuntu- meal  or  -plant  in  magic,  9,  26, 
56,  150,  158. 

Ur,  222. 

Ura,  84  ff. 

Urine,  lxv  ;  of  ass  in  libation,  As,  34  ; 
of  camel  as  medicine,  A,  173. 

Urisu,  224. 

Urkarinnu-vtood ,  xxxviii. 

JJsurtu ,  xxiii,  lviii,  126. 

Uterus  of  animals  in  magic,  201. 

JJtukkx  limnuti ,  xl. 

Utukku,  8,  39,  44,  45,  97. 

Vampires,  52. 

Variegated  threads  or  hair  in  magic,  As, 
33 ;  see  Coloured. 

Veils  protect  from  demons,  74. 

Venus,  lxii,  79,  223. 

Villeneuve-Saint-Georges,  239. 

Vinegar  in  magic,  A,  174  ;  H,  164. 

Virgin  kid,  As,  166,  167. 

Virgin  lamb,  As,  167. 

Virgin  Mary,  lxvi,  64,  73,  74,  138,  207. 

Virgin  parchment,  H,  160. 


Virgins  as  ghosts,  see  Ghosts  married  to 
spirits  ;  see  Women. 

Viscera  in  magic,  H,  197. 

Vomiting  in  magic,  As,  153,  204,  250; 
M,  36. 

Wafer,  Holy,  in  magic,  123. 

Waist  in  magic,  I,  163. 

Washing  in  magic,  A,  122,  126,  135, 
256  ;  As,  xx,  lii,  34,  122,  129  ff.,  188, 
202,  208,  212,  213,  254;  G,  lv,  130; 

H,  14,  28,  129,  140,  184,  187  ; 

I,  163  ;  Roman,  227;  S,  115;  Tonga, 
215. 

Watches  of  the  night,  As,  xxvii ;  see 
Morning  and  Middle. 

Water  in  magic,  li,  lxi,  218 ;  A,  lxvii, 
28-32,  77,  114,  117,  130,  135,  256  ; 
As,  xxii,  xxvi,  xxvii,  lii,  liii,  25,  26, 
28-32,  34,  98,  100,  123,  129 ff.,  152, 
153,  157,  160,  161,  166,  187,  188, 
202,  208,  212-14  ;  E  (Eth),  155; 
G,  28  ;  H,  xviii,  lv,  lviii,  27-32,  91, 
129,  146  ;  I,  xxviii,  162,  163  ;  M,  lii; 
Malagasy,  213;  Maronite,  28-32; 
Pal,  102,  107  ;  S,  lxv  ;  Tonga,  215. 

Running,  A,  79  ;  H,  lvi,  29,  164 
(cf.  117),  185,  188  (cf.  As,  254). 
Spring,  Roman,  227. 
Watering-places  haunted,  90  ;  give  con¬ 
ception,  79,  80 ;  troubled  by  spirit,  80. 
Wax  in  magic,  xli,  xlvi,  li,  142,  159  ; 
As,  115,  150;  E,  143,  149,  222  ; 
(Eth),  156;  H,  144;  M,  145,  205; 
impassable  by  demons,  A,  106  (cf. 
wax  dropped  in  water  at  Maronite 
baptism,  29). 

Weddings,  A,  30,  134  ;  H,  135  ;  Y,  31. 
Wednesday  in  magic,  Y,  134. 

Wells  in  magic,  A,  lxvii,  5,  168  ;  II, 
146  ;  haunted,  see  Demons. 

West  in  magic,  As,  xxvii,  84,  159,  162, 
253  ;  E,  8  ;  H,  164  ;  I,  xxviii. 
Westcar  Papyrus,  143. 

Wheat  in  magic,  As,  xlii,  xlv  ;  H,  xxxi ; 

Pal,  102.  See  Corn. 

‘  Wheat-stones,’  lxiii  ff. 

White  in  magic,  A,  xx,  lv,  5,  105  ;  As, 
161,  165,  170,171,  203;  H,  30,  212. 


INDEX. 


283 


Wicks  in  magic,  lxiv. 

Widowhood  unclean,  A,  135,  187. 

Wier  quoted,  69,  82. 

Willow  in  magic,  H,  170. 

Wind  in  magic,  As,  7,  8,  54,  60,  83 ; 
bears  tabu,  Sab,  119  (cf.  As,  166) ; 
sorcery,  H,  147. 

Wine  in  magic,  A,  210;  As,  xlv,  lii, 
158,  187  ;  H,  201. 

Wiping  away  a  tabu,  215. 

Wise-woman,  As,  121,  165,  166  ;  Babar, 
201  ;  Borneo,  36,  163  ;  I,  164. 

Witches,  xxi,  xxivff.,  68,  77,  147, 
150  ff.,  166,  188,  252. 

« Witting  ’  sins,  217. 

Wizards,  68  ;  casting  spell,  xxiv  ff.,  lxiv, 
166;  Ab,  103;  wise-man,  Borneo,  36. 

Wolf,  S,  54. 

Wolves,  were-,  57. 

Women  married  to  spirits,  72  ;  see 
Virgins  (see  also  Barren  and  Ghosts)  ; 
stepping  over  nail-parings,  H,  147. 

Wood  in  magic,  A,  xviii,  8  ;  As,  xliii, 
154;  Borneo,  163. 

Wool  in  magic,  A,  lxvii ;  Ab,  164  ;  As, 
167,  171,  192;  H,  lxvii,  164. 

Word  of  power,  xlviff.,  lx,  lxvi,  lxvii, 
lxviii,  31,  42. 


Worm  in  magic,  A,  xliv,  210  ;  As,  xliii. 
(On  worms  in  teeth  see  Skeat,  Malay 
Magic ,  359.) 

Wormwood  in  magic,  H,  87. 

Wotyaks,  184. 

Wrist  in  magic,  A,  169  ;  P,  168. 

Xenocrates  quoted,  203. 

Xerxes,  xxxvi,  230. 

Yaghuth,  158. 

Yahweh,  xviii,  lv,  (lxvi),  4,  (6),  9,  (11), 
12,  24,  29,  (33),  (38),  (51),  (52), 
(58),  (66),  73,  (74),  78,  86,  (107), 
(118),  139,  140,  (148),  (149),  (158), 
(172),  176,  182,  187,  197,  216,  219, 
220,  222,  226,  231,  236,  246. 

Yellow  in  magic,  I,  163. 

Yezidis,  6,  31,  59. 

Yuseph  el-hagg,  liv. 

Zammaru- priests,  xxi  ff.,  xlv  (‘singer’) 
Zebedani,  226. 

Zemzem,  5,  80. 

Zerka  Ma‘in,  59. 

Zeus,  254. 

Zoroaster  quoted,  119  (cf.  52) 

Zu,  11. 


285 


LIST  OF  BIBLICAL  QUOTATIONS. 


Genesis  : — 

xxi,  1,  2  . 

xxii,  1  ff. 

xxix,  31  . 

xxx,  14 


page 
73,  78 
220 
78 
lxiv 


Exodus  : — 


iv  .  .  . 

viii,  19 

xii,  23  .  . 

xiii,  2,  12  ff. 

xiii,  13 
xiii,  19  . 

xv,  25  .  . 

xvii,  6  .  . 

xviii,  15  ff. 
xix,  15 

xxi,  17 

xxii,  1  .  . 

xxii,  18 
xxii,  20  . 

xxii,  28  . 

xxii,  31 
xxiii,  1 
xxiii,  4 
xxiii,  8 


xvm,  xix 


97 

86 

219 

220 
10 

xviii 

xviii 


.  219 

117,  247 
.  247 
.  248 

xxix,  252 
.  246 

246,  249 
.  207 
.  248 

.  252 

.  249 


xxix,  Iff.  182 

xxix,  12,  14 

xxx .  .  . 

xxx,  10,  15 
xxxii,  33  . 
xxxv,  3 


,194,198 
198 
194 
182 
12 
139,  251 


Leyiticus  : — 

i . 182 

i,  1-7  .  .  .  .  198 

iii,  16  .  .  .  .  197 

iv  .  .  .  194,  198 

iv,  1  ff.,  3,  13  ff.  182 

iv,  22  .  .  140,  182 

iv,  27  ff.  .  .  .  182 

v  . 215 

v,  Iff.,  15  ff.  .  182 


sviticus  (cont 

'.—  page 

Numbers: — 

page 

v,  2.  .  . 

.  27 

i,  51  .  . 

13Q. 

vi  .  .  . 

.  182 

iii,  12  .  . 

236 

vii,  38  .  . 

.  198 

iii,  13  .  . 

220 

viii,  Iff.  . 

182,  194 

v,  1  .  . 

114 

116 

ix  .  .  182,  194,  198 

v,  6  .  . 

182 

ix,  9-15  . 

.  198 

v,  11  ff. 

lv 

x,  1,  2  .  . 

.  139 

vi,  1  .  . 

114 

x,  16-20  . 

.  198 

vi,  9  ff. 

182 

xi,  29-38  . 

.  30 

vi,  13  ff.  . 

182 

xii,  2  .  . 

.  136 

viii,  6  .  . 

182 

xii,  2  ff.  . 

.  182 

ix,  6  .  . 

114 

xiii  . 

.  182 

xv,  24 

182 

xiv  .  .  . 

182,  194 

xv,  27  .  . 

182 

xiv,  38,  46 

.  187 

xv,  38  .  . 

164 

xiv,  51,  52 

.  188 

xvi,  26 

108 

XV  .  .  . 

116,  194 

xvi,  46 

182 

xv,  2  ff.  . 

.  182 

xviii,  15  ff. 

219 

,  220 

xv,  16-18 

.  117 

xix,  1  ff.  . 

lv 

xv,  19  .  . 

.  136 

xix,  10 

187 

xvi  .  .  182 

184,  198 

xix,  15 

28 

xvii,  7  .  . 

59,  198 

xix,  16 . 

17 

xvii,  11,  14 

.  195 

xix,  17  ff. 

182 

xvii,  15 

.  130 

xxii,  4 

116 

xviii,  1  ff .  . 

.  247 

xxii,  5 

XXV 

xviii,  19  . 

.  118 

xxiii,  24  . 

241 

xix,  11 

.  248 

xxiv,  8 

241 

xix,  12 

.  254 

xxviii  . 

182 

xix,  15 

117,  249 

xxix,  1  ff. 

182,  202 

xix,  19 

.  lxvii 

xxxi,  19-24 

116 

xix,  20  ff. 

.  182 

xxxi,  22,  23 

lviii 

xix,  26,  31 

.  252 

xix,  32 

.  247 

Deuteronomy 

: — 

xix,  35,  36 

.  248 

xii,  16 

•  • 

29 

xx,  2  .  . 

.  222 

xii,  23 

•  • 

195 

xx,  6  .  . 

.  252 

xii,  30,  31 

•  • 

222 

xx,  9,  10  . 

.  247 

xviii,  1 0  . 

•  • 

xxix 

xxi,  10 

.  251 

xviii,  11  . 

•  • 

252 

xxii,  4  . 

27,  116 

xviii,  18  . 

•  • 

222 

xxii,  14 

.  182 

xix,  14 

•  • 

248 

xxii,  27 

.  252 

xxi,  1  .  . 

•  • 

200 

xxiii  .  . 

182,  194 

xxii,  1  .  . 

•  • 

252. 

286  LIST  OF  BIBLICAL  QUOTATIONS. 


Deut.  (cont.) : — 

page 

xxii,  6  . 

252 

xxiii,  21  .  . 

246 

xxv,  13-15  . 

248 

xxvi,  14  .  . 

14 

xxvii,  16  . 

247 

xxvii,  17  .  . 

248 

xxxii,  17  .  • 

44 

Joshua  :  — 

vi,  23  .  .  . 

200 

vi,  26  .  .  . 

228 

vii  .... 

176 

viii,  29  .  . 

13 

Judges  : — 

xiii,  3  .  .  . 

73,  78 

1  Samuel: — 

ii,  6  ... 

9 

iv,  7  .  .  . 

158 

xxviii,  7  .  . 

9 

xxviii,  14  .  . 

4 

2  Samuel : — 

xxiv,  16  .  . 

86 

1  Kings  :  — 

xviii  .  .  . 

xviii 

2  Kings  :  — 

v,  10  .  .  . 

liv 

xvi,  3  .  .  . 

222 

xvii,  31 

222 

xix,  35 

86 

xxiii,  10  .  . 

222 

1  Chronicles 

xxi,  1  .  .  . 

87 

Job  :  — 

i,  ii  .  .  .  . 

87 

ii,  13  .  .  . 

15 

iv,  15  . 

8,  40 

vii,  10  .  .  . 

3 

x,  21  .  .  . 

3 

xi,  8 

3 

xvii,  16  .  . 

3 

Psalms  : — 

xxix,  3-9  .  . 

30 

lxxxviii,  5 

4 

lxxxix,  48 

87 

cvi,  37 .  .  . 

44 

,  222 

cvi,  38 .  .  . 

222 

cix,  6  .  .  . 

87 

Proverbs  : — 
xxvii,  9 

• 

• 

page 

133 

xxx,  15 

• 

• 

63 

Ecclesiastes  : 
iv,  12  .  . 

• 

• 

167 

Isaiah  : — 

vi,  6  .  . 

lviii 

viii,  19 

14 

xiv  .  .  . 

4 

xxxviii,  10 

3 

xxxviii,  18 

4 

xlvii,  12,  13 

XXXV 

lvii,  8  .  . 

128 

Jeremiah  : — 

vii,  18  .  . 

207 

vii,  30-2  . 

222 

viii,  1  ff .  . 

10 

xi,  19  .  . 

205 

xix,  3-5  . 

222 

xxxii,  35  . 

222 

Ezekiel  :  — 

iv,  1,  2  . 

156 

xiii,  18 

38 

xvi,  20,  21 

222 

xxiii 

73 

xxxii,  27  . 

4 

xliii,  7-9  . 

114 

xliii,  18  if. 

182 

xlv,  18  if. 

182 

Hosea  : — 

ix,  4 

14 

J  ON ah  :  — 

i,  14  .  . 

1 

i,  17  .  . 

53 

Zechariah  : — 

iii  .  .  . 

87 

Matthew  :  — 

iii,  5  .  . 

liv 

iv,  1  .  . 

91 

vii,  22  .  . 

xlvi 

viii,  28  ff. 

208 

xii,  24  .  . 

xlvi 

xvii,  14  . 

101 

xxvii,  24  . 

130 

Mark  : — 

v,  1  ff.  . 

208 

vii,  22  .  . 

88 

Mark  (cont.) : — 

; page 

ix,  14  .  .  . 

.  101 

ix,  38  .  .  . 

.  xlvi 

Luke : — 

iv,  34  .  .  . 

.  149 

viii,  26  ff. 

.  208 

ix,  49  .  .  . 

.  xlvi 

xi,  24  .  .  . 

50,  91 

John : — 

v,  4  .  .  . 

.  80 

x,  20  .  .  . 

.  60 

Acts  : — 

viii,  9  .  .  . 

.  xxx 

xii,  7  ff .  .  . 

.  lxvi 

xiii,  6  .  .  . 

.  xxx 

xvi,  16  .  . 

.  xxx 

xix,  13 

.  xxx 

xix,  19  .  xxx,  xxxvi 

1  Corinthians 

x,  20  .  .  . 

.  198 

Hebrews  : — 

ix,  22  . 

.  195 

Revelation  : — 

iii,  1  .  .  . 

.  52 

iv,  5  .  .  . 

.  52 

v,  6  ... 

.  52 

ix,  7  .  .  • 

.  81 

xii,  4  .  .  . 

.  43 

xv,  6  .  .  . 

.  51 

xviii,  2 

.  92 

Tobit  :  — 

i,  16  .  .  . 

.  24 

ii,  9  .  .  . 

.  114 

iii,  17  .  .  . 

.  74 

vi,  7  .  .  . 

.  lvii 

vi,  14  .  .  . 

74,  134 

viii,  2  .  . 

lvii,  134 

viii,  3  .  .  . 

lvii 

xii,  12,  15 

.  52 

Wisdom  : — 

xii,  4-6  .  . 

.  222 

Ecclesiasticus  : 

xxi,  27  .  . 

.  87 

Baruch  : — 

vi,  29  .  .  . 

.  121 

ERRATUM. 

Page  163,  line  12.  For  pot  read  foot. 


Date  Due 


in  u 


BF1591.T47 

Semitic  magic,  its  origins  and 


Prin 

ceton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 

1  1012  00000  0317 


